'I needed the Lord in my life' How football legend hit rock bottom and found his way

Buffalo Bills' quarterback Jim Kelly has had many ups and downs with life.

A roller coaster ride is how former Buffalo Bills quarterback, Jim Kelly, describes his life, with a series of heightening success and downfalls that made him realize what he ultimately was missing out on. The NFL hall-of-famer lost his 8-year-old son to a disease in 2005; the most heartbreaking event that happened to him, Kelly explained. Now he, together with his wife and daughter, forever spends a life with God.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "I've been... up and down, up and down. It really came to a point in my life where I was at my lowest after my son passed away and really knowing, 'Okay, what am I going to do?' and being lost. And then finally understanding what it was all about - that I needed the Lord in my life," said Kelly during an interview with The Blaze.

After playing at the Super Bowl and leading the Bills four consecutive times, Kelly was challenged in his private life with a battle with jaw cancer.  

Kelly admitted that he numerously asked God why all those things - surgeries, the cancer and other monumental things - were happening to him during this time. However, his wife Jill was always there for him, and after a series of talks as to why God was doing this, Kelly came to realize that he needed to continue praying on his knees for the Lord.

"Bottom line is, we all get thrown to our knees and I was a few times over, but I understand that I am here for a reason. I am a chosen father with a little boy named Hunter that through all of our experiences, we've been able to make a difference," he said. With the loss of Hunter to Krabbe Disease, Kelly explained that both he and Jill were lost, not knowing what to do, until God became the center of their life enriching it with faith.

"We weren't sure where we were going, our marriage wasn't going very well. We needed that in our life."

Jim Kelly also talked about how proud he is of his daughter, Erin who co-authored a book with Jill, "Kelly Tough: Live Courageously By Faith," that expressse his struggles and their family's journey to God.

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