Mother inspired by her late daughter’s dream to attend Liberty earns same degree in her honor

>>This month, Liberty University celebrates over 32,000 graduates who’re prepared to affect the world as Champions for Christ. Follow Liberty News for full Commencement protection and extra tales of trials and triumph from the Class of 2026.

This weekend, Melinda French-Seger (’26) joined 1000’s of different graduates in celebrating their tutorial journeys throughout Liberty University’s 2026 Commencement. But for French-Seger, the celebration was a bittersweet remembrance of the rationale she started her degree three years in the past — to honor her daughter, Morgan French, who handed away in a automobile accident simply months earlier than the highschool senior was supposed to attend Liberty University.

French-Seger, her husband Jason, her son Tristian, and Morgan got here to Lynchburg from Myerstown, Pa., so Morgan may attend Liberty Christian Academy for her closing yr of highschool. French-Seger owned a hair salon however left it behind. She stated she had pushed previous Liberty a pair years earlier than, and she or he remembers crying and praying that God would open the best doorways for her youngsters to attend Liberty.

“I prayed, ‘Oh Lord, I would love if my kids could go to school there one day; I would love for them to go to a Christian college like that,’” French-Seger stated. “It was like a dream God had given me right then. It definitely seemed like a dream come true when we moved here.”

Morgan instantly was engaged in the Liberty neighborhood, socializing together with his fellow college students at LCA and falling in love with the Lynchburg space. She was excited to obtain her acceptance letter from Liberty and to start lessons that fell. On March 28, 2023, simply eight months after she moved to her new dwelling, Morgan was in a automobile accident on her means to faculty and her life was immediately taken.

French-Seger described the day as a “nightmare.” She reached out to a counselor that day who she was mates with, one whom Morgan had seen and likewise had a toddler go away from a automobile accident. While French-Seger acquired counseling over the approaching months, she stated she additionally noticed the methods the Lord supplied her household glimmers of hope as they battled by means of their grief. From the presence of a blue butterfly in their yard that reminded French-Seger of God’s consolation to a second in Morgan’s bed room the place French-Seger heard God inform her that He would assist by means of the ache, French-Seger stated God was trustworthy by means of the struggling.

Just a few months after Morgan’s passing, French-Seger was searching on the memorial backyard she had created for Morgan, and she or he stated she may sense Christ’s presence in the backyard.

“It’s just little things that God sends us to tell us we’re not alone, that He’s with us and going to help us get through it,” French-Seger stated.

Inspired by the assistance she acquired from her counselor, French-Seger determined that very summer season she wished to assist different mother and father who had been enduring comparable trials.

“Pretty much right after (Morgan’s passing), I was like ‘OK, Lord, you have to use my pain for something, right?’”

Though she was nonetheless processing by means of her grief, she enrolled in Liberty University Online Programs to research a bachelor’s degree psychologythe same degree Morgan had deliberate to full residentially. She started her research on the same day Morgan would have began at Liberty.

“There was just this urgency that I wanted to get started right away because I felt like something positive had to come out of this. I feel like I’m honoring her by going to school because she couldn’t. Morgan was a little counselor herself, always helping her friends,” she stated, including that lots of Morgan’s mates have stated they would not be alive if it weren’t for Morgan’s help and love.

French-Seger stated she discovered her classwork helpful as she continued the method of therapeutic.

“My classes helped me a lot in my own grieving process, just what we were taught and learning about things like that. I had to do a research project one time, and I picked up grief, and researching that, I realized how this works and was learning a different side of it. As I was (grieving), it helped encourage me.”

French-Seger stated her lessons higher geared up her to assist different individuals. She sends flowers and items to different mother and father who’ve misplaced their youngsters on their kid’s heaven day and birthday, to remind them that they don’t seem to be alone.

French-Seger stated attending Liberty was initially a dream of her daughter’s, nevertheless it additionally turned her personal.

“I never knew going to Liberty would end up being my dream; it was a dream I had for Morgan. God is still good, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to go to school, let alone an amazing Christian university,” she stated.

French-Seger plans to pursue her grasp’s in clinical mental health counseling whereas working at Lynchburg City Schools aiding with speech remedy. As she walked throughout the stage at her degree ceremony on Saturday and acquired her diploma, she knew that Morgan could be happy with her achievement.

“Sometimes I really feel like I can hear her, saying, ‘You bought this mother; we’ll be collectively once more.’ “She’d be really proud.”