Former NFL player Tommie Harris who lost his wife and child opened up about his faith in God in an interview on “Fox and Friends” with co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
The former NFL defensive tackle and three-time Pro Bowl player was on their new show “Ainsley’s Bible Study,” where he told the host about the tragedies in his life and how it reinforced his faith in God.
“I look at a miracle every day when I look in the mirror and see that I’m not in a straitjacket or [have] lost my mind for what I’ve been through,” he said. “I’m a walking testimony. God moves every day through me, encourages me, inspires me to help someone else beyond myself.”
Ainsley asked Harris about how he lost his wife Ashley Harris at the young age of 29 years, and about his child. He said, “My wife was going in to have a breast reduction surgery. We [were] married for 41 days,” Harris recalled. “I was on a plane… never knowing that when we land, I would get a phone call that said my wife stopped breathing on the table and I needed to hurry up and get to Oklahoma.”
Harris added that by the time he got to Oklahoma, his wife was dead and he felt helpless as he watched his new bride suffer on life support for three days before he made the decision to let her go.
He added that at 28 years of age he had to pull the cord, being a millionaire could not help him at that moment. He said he lost his purpose for finances, for everything. “That was the biggest time I believe my faith was tested, and I remember pulling the cord and I told God to let His will be done in my life.”
Sadly, the death of his wife was not going to be the end of his life’s tragedies. Four years later, he got into a relationship with another woman, and they had a child, but tragedy struck again when four months later, his daughter passed away of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
He said, “I believe that God is speaking to me to show people how valuable life is and at any moment the game can change,” he said. “So are you playing your hardest at every moment?” Harris added, “I think that my breath right now is being used to teach that suddenly […] things can change. And with the faith in God, you know that He’ll never put more than you can bear,” Harris added.
Harris went on to tell Ainsley that his faith in God has encouraged him to do more and reach out to others in need. He said, he remembers walking in the airport after his wofe died, and he weighed 300 pounds at the time and he was just crying, and he really wanted someone to hold him, hug him or just see him. but he noticed how everybody was on their own schedule and nobody cared for the other.
“So now, because of what I’ve [been] through, when I go to the airport, my head is on a swivel. I’m looking for the slumped-over shoulders. I’m looking for the guy that may not look approachable, but I know he needs a hug. So I’ve learned from that situation to take it and help serve someone else,” he added.
Our heart goes out to Tommie Harris for the tragedies he has been through in life but his faith in God has uplifted and given him a brand new outlook in life and taught him to be kind to hurting people out there.
Watch the moving testimony of NFL player Tommie Harris