God Used a Cartoon to Break Me Open

Grace doesn't wait for a holy moment.

April 2025

My son and I were fighting. Dad was golfing. We were lying on my bed trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our afternoon.

I remembered the animated film King of Kings was still in theatres and thought, this is what we need to get back on track. My son was hesitant. He thought it was too “little kid” for him. I suggested we pull up the trailer and watch again. We both had seen the preview already, but this time something hit me differently.

I didn’t have a name for it then. I do now. He’d been guiding me much longer than this moment. But this moment was loud.

A flash of a cartoon depiction of Jesus being crucified was all it took.

The levee in my spirit broke. The weight of what Jesus did for me…

His sacrifice. My salvation.

It all washed over me.

My past life flashed before my eyes. The times I could have overdosed or gotten arrested. The worry and pain my family and friends felt while I was destroying my life. The sleepless nights I gave my parents. The multitude of scenarios of a darker life that could have been mine. I could have been dead.

And yet here I was.

Sitting inside my home, looking at a beautiful little human, living a life I know I didn’t earn or deserve.

Grace.

I quickly sat up and scooted myself to the edge of my bed. I turned my back towards my son and began sobbing.

I knew he could hear me. I couldn’t contain it.

I hadn’t grasped any of it until a one-second cartoon picture of Jesus on a cross took me down.

I turned around to my then 7-year-old son, who looked like a deer in headlights trying to comprehend why his mother was weeping. I told him I was ok and I just love Jesus for saving my life. I told him he’d understand one day.

We went and saw the movie that afternoon, just the two of us. And when the full scene of Jesus being crucified showed up, the tears were streaming down my face again, quietly, as I thanked Him for saving me.

My son kept looking over to make sure his mom was ok. He put his arm around me and told me he loved me.

We both really enjoyed the movie.

- No one is too lost to be saved.