The stage, bathed in a solemn light, stood as a stark reminder of a presence now tragically absent. Two years prior, at America Fest 2023, just a few miles from here, Charlie Kirk, the fervent voice of conservative youth, delivered a spontaneous, unscripted speech for TPUSA Faith. He spoke, as he often did, extemporaneously, a whirlwind of conviction and passionate belief. What he chose to speak about that day, as his wife Erika later revealed, was his profound submission to the will of God, quoting his favorite Bible verse from Isaiah chapter 6, verse 8: “Here I am, Lord, send me.” Little did anyone know, those words, uttered with such conviction, would become a chillingly prophetic epitaph, a testament to a divine calling tragically fulfilled.

Now, on this solemn occasion, Erika Kirk stands before a grieving multitude, gathered from “all over the world to honor and celebrate my Charlie.” Her voice, though tinged with the profound pain of recent loss, carries an unwavering strength, a testament to a faith tested in the crucible of unimaginable tragedy. She begins by recalling that fateful speech, the moment Charlie laid bare his soul before God. She confesses her immediate, almost intuitive, unease: “Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that statement.” She understood the immense power inherent in that verse, the total surrender it represented. “When you say something like that, there is so much power in that verse, when you say, ‘Here I am, Lord, use me.’ God will take you up on that, and he did with Charlie.”

Her words hang heavy in the air, connecting a public declaration of faith to a private, devastating reality. “Eleven days ago, God accepted that total surrender from my husband and then called him to his side.” The raw honesty of her statement cuts through the formality of the event, inviting every soul present into the intimate chamber of her grief. Through the agonizing haze of the past eleven days, amidst the “pain,” Erika reveals she has found an unexpected, profound comfort in the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done.” This acceptance, this spiritual surrender, becomes the anchor in her storm.

Erika’s tribute delves into the most intimate and heartbreaking details of her husband’s final moments, revealing a great mercy from God in this tragedy. She recounts the “unthinkable” afternoon of September 10th, when she arrived at a Utah hospital to look directly at her husband’s murdered body. She “saw the wound that ended his life,” feeling the expected “shock” and “horror,” a “level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed.” But amidst the brutal finality of death, she saw something else, something profound. She noticed “the one single gray hair on the side of his head” that she had never told him about, a tender, personal detail. More significantly, she saw “on his lips the faintest smile.” This smile, she asserts, revealed “a great mercy from God.” The doctor later confirmed it: Charlie “didn’t suffer.” His death was “so instant that even if Charlie had been shot in the operating room itself, nothing could have been done.” There was “no fear, no agony.” One moment, Charlie was alive, doing “what he loved, arguing and debating on campus, fighting for the gospel truth in front of a big crowd, and then he blinked.” He blinked, and “saw his savior in paradise, and all the heavenly mysteries were revealed to him.” This profound image of a painless transition, of immediate communion with the divine, offers not just solace to Erika, but a powerful message of spiritual triumph over earthly brutality.

God’s love, Erika reveals, continued to manifest in the difficult days that followed. She recounts a poignant moment on the tarmac in Air Force Two, confronting Usher Vance, a “precious woman.” Overwhelmed, Erika confessed, “I do not know how I am going to get through this.” Usher Vance offered an analogy of a turbulent airplane flight, the last 15 minutes filled with screaming children and chaos, the fervent desire for the flight to land. “You will get through these 15 minutes, and the next 15 minutes after that,” Usher Vance promised. For Erika, those words were “exactly what I needed to hear.” This small act of kindness, this shared human understanding, became another testament to divine mercy.

But beyond personal comfort and individual acts of compassion, Erika witnessed a more profound manifestation of God’s love. In the wake of Charlie’s assassination, amidst a world that braced for “violence,” “rioting,” and “revolution,” they saw something entirely different. They saw “revival.” People, for the first time in a decade, “opened a Bible.” They “prayed for the first time since they were children.” They attended “church service for the first time in their entire lives.” This, Erika declares, was “what my husband always prayed he would see in this country.” Charlie’s death, a brutal act of human malice, was being transmuted into a powerful catalyst for spiritual awakening, fulfilling his lifelong mission.

Erika then draws from Charlie’s personal journals, offering a glimpse into his introspective, disciplined mind. “Every time you make a decision, it puts a mark on your soul,” he wrote. To the new believers, those who have “just made that decision and took the first step toward a spiritual life,” Erika extends a heartfelt “thank you and welcome.” She assures them that this is “the most important decision of your life.” For the established believers, her message is a powerful call to action: “it is your job to shepherd these people. Do not take that lightly. Water the seed of their faith, protect it, and help it grow.” Charlie, she reveals, practiced this habit daily, sending Bible verses to his contact list, knowing that “faith was a habit, the more you live it, the more it grows.” She warns of the “enemy” who will tempt them but reminds them that “God will always be there for you, but you must choose to mark your soul again and again in the direction of Christ.” She calls for prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and a breaking free from “the temptations and shackles of this world.”

Erika underscores the demanding nature of their shared faith, acknowledging Christ’s words: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Charlie, she asserts, “knew that and happily carried his cross all the way to the end.” She wants everyone to know that while Charlie “died far too early,” he was also “ready to die.” He left this world “without regrets,” having done “100% of what he could every day.” He died with “incomplete work, but not with unfinished business.” This distinction is crucial, affirming his purpose and spiritual readiness.

The speech takes a tender, deeply personal turn as Erika speaks of her profound, enduring love for her husband. “I will miss him so much because our marriage and our family were beautiful. They still are.” She recalls that the “greatest cause in Charlie’s life was trying to revive the American family,” eager to share “God’s vision for marriage” with young people, a vision she believes “would enrich every part of their life in the same way that it enriched ours.” She shares their “little secret,” “love notes” Charlie wrote “every Saturday,” never missing one, expressing his gratitude and always asking, “Please let me know how I can better serve you as a husband.” This, she explains, was Charlie’s perfect understanding of “God’s role for a Christian husband: a man who leads so that they can serve.”

Erika then issues a powerful challenge to the men and women in the audience. To the men: “Accept Charlie’s challenge and embrace true manhood. Be strong and courageous for your families. Love your wives and lead them. Love your children and protect them. Be the spiritual head of your home, but please be a leader worth following.” She explicitly clarifies: “Your wife is not your servant. Your wife is not your employee. Your wife is not your slave. She is your helper. You are not rivals. You are one flesh working together for the glory of God.” Her words redefine masculinity within a spiritual context, emphasizing service, partnership, and mutual respect. To the women: “Be virtuous. Our strength is found in God’s design for our role. We are the guardians. We are the encouragers. We are the preservers. Guard your heart, everything you do flows from it.” She highlights motherhood as “the single most important ministry you have in our home.”

She paints a picture of their home life, a “sacred landing place” for Charlie, where she never made him feel guilty for his travels or late hours, always assuring him, “Home is here for you and it’ll be ready for you.” There was “no keeping score between us; we were a team working together for the same mission.” She never wanted to be “the one standing between Charlie and the task that God prepared for him.” Their marriage, she declares, was “the best thing that ever happened to me, and I know it was the best thing that ever happened to him as well.”

Charlie’s ultimate mission, Erika reveals, was “aimed directly at those who aren’t married,” the “lost boys of the West,” young men consumed by “resentment, anger, and hate,” those who “feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, and no reason to live.” He wanted to save them, to show them a “better path and a better life.” And then, in a moment of profound spiritual grace, Erika delivers the most powerful message of her tribute: “My husband Charlie… he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life.” She echoes Christ’s words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” With tears in her eyes, Erika declares, “That man… that young man… I forgive him… I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love, and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”

Erika concludes by affirming the vital mission of Turning Point USA, promising to make everything “ten times greater through the power of his memory.” Chapters will grow, new pastors will join TPUSA Faith, and campus events will continue, defending the First Amendment and the right to dialogue. “No assassin will ever stop us for standing up to defend those rights. Ever. Because when you stop the conversation, when you stop the dialogue, this is what happens: when we lose the ability and the willingness to communicate, we get violence.” She speaks of Charlie, an “18-year-old man barely out of high school, running around the halls of the RNC without a dollar in his pocket and a single contact in his phone,” who “knew exactly what he was doing: he was going to change the world, and he did.” She implores everyone to let Charlie’s life be their “turning point,” to “choose prayer, choose courage, choose beauty, choose adventure, choose family, choose a life of faith,” and most importantly, “choose Christ.”

“I love you, Charlie baby, and I will make you proud. God bless you all and God bless America.” Erika Kirk’s speech is more than a eulogy; it is a sermon, a call to action, a testament to enduring faith, profound forgiveness, and a mission that, even in death, continues to inspire and challenge. Her words transform a personal tragedy into a universal message of hope, resilience, and the unwavering power of love to overcome hate.