Pastor and Wife Who Lost Two Sons in Tragic Car Accident Welcome Twins: 'God Brings Beauty Through Ashes'

Jul 12, 2017 08:57 AM EDT

Two years after losing their two young sons in a tragic car crash, North Carolina Pastor Gentry Eddings and his wife, Hadley, welcomed twins into the world.

The Eddings' twins, Isaiah Dobbs and Amos Reed, were born on Monday, Charlotte news station WBTV reported. The boys' middle names are in honor of the big brothers who died after the May 2015 crash.  

As previously reported by The Gospel Herald, Eddings, a worship pastor at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, his wife and his son, Dobbs were traveling home to Charlotte in a caravan when the vehicle Hadley and Dobbs were riding in was hit by  truck driven by Matthew Deans.

Hadley, a preschool teacher who was 8-months pregnant at the time, was rushed to a nearby hospital for an emergency C-Section. Dobbs died in the crash, and the newborn, named Reed, only survived two days after suffering a slight blain breed.

Eddings Family
(Photo : Facebook/Hadley Eddings)

Pastor Gentry Eddings and his wife, Hadley, pictured with their son, Dobbs.

Within just a few weeks, over 6,000 people from around the globe shared their condolences with the Eddings family on a Facebook page the church set up for the family. Supporters raised $203,000 through GoFundMe to pay for their medical expenses at the time of the accident.

The couple publicly forgave Deans, who was sentenced to three years in prison, and announced they were expecting twins in January.

At the time, Hadley said: "The Lord has not left us for one second in our grief of losing our  two boys almost two years ago. God is a redeemer and a restorer! God blesses us beyond what we deserve or could ever imagine.

"We are excited that Dobbs and Reed are going to be big brothers to twins! We are so thankful for our family and so many friends who have prayed for us and cheered us on our way. We're rejoicing, and thank Jesus for these two precious little ones!"

Last week, Hadley took to Facebook to reflect on God's faithfulness over the past two years.

"They've been tough ones most definitely, but I've been thinking more so about God's goodness and faithfulness to us- about His provision for our needs, about the peace He has given us in the pain, about the joy that He has given us in our mourning," she wrote. "I've been thinking about His resurrection and how incredible it is that we have a savior who died for us and defeated death so that we could live with Him eternally if we just choose to trust Him. And I've been thinking about how because He chose to die for us, I get to see Dobbs and Reed again. Death isn't the end of their story or their lives."

She continued: "I think about what satan thought he would accomplish in our car accident- DEATH. And while earthly death did occur, God has showed off in bringing LIFE to so many. Bringing beauty through our ashes. Not that the deaths of Dobbs and Reed don't hurt... but the lasting sting of them is gone because WE WILL BE TOGETHER AGAIN."