Sports magazines and the tabloids are too often filled with juicy tales of athletes involved in drug scandals, extramarital affairs and violent crime. From an early age, Demaryius Thomas seemed doomed to such a destructive lifestyle. Instead, his is a story of achieving success despite a troubled upbringing. It’s also a story about forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.

Demaryius Thomas and his two younger half-sisters were fast asleep at the family’s rural home in Montrose, Georgia, when police officers kicked down the door. It was early in the morning on March 15, 1999, when the officers ordered Thomas’s mother and stepfather out of bed, handcuffing the mother. They granted her request to get her children dressed, feed them breakfast, and send them off to school before taking her away to prison.

Thomas’s grandmother was arrested on the same day. Both women were charged in federal court with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The grandmother had gotten hooked on the rush of selling drugs back in 1986 and continued doing so even after two prior arrests. Young Demaryius often saw her making the cocaine at her house and inviting a steady flow of strangers inside for the transactions. His mother held drug money for his grandmother several times and thus became an accomplice.

“I knew my grandma was selling it and my mom was keeping some money,” Thomas said, according to the Denver Post. “I told my mother one time that they needed to stop because I had a dream that they got in trouble. I started crying like every night after then. And then it finally happened.”

Both women were convicted in February 2000. Thomas’s mother had a chance to testify against his grandmother and receive a plea deal of just four years in prison. She refused and was sentenced to 20 years. His grandmother got two life sentences with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

Thomas was just 12 years old. His mother and grandmother were in prison. His father wouldn’t be around much from that time on due to military service. This scenario would have meant disaster for most young people. Scripture warns: “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Proverbs 29:15).

Thankfully for young Demaryius, his uncle and aunt graciously took him in. It was with the Brown family that Thomas gained much-needed structure: chores, a curfew, responsibilities at the local church, mowing grass and picking peas in the field behind their house, and playing sports.

Thomas’s athletic résumé is impressive and extensive. At West Laurens High School, he starred in basketball, track and football. Standing 6’3”, 210 lbs. and possessing huge hands, football—where he played wide receiver—was his true specialty. He caught 32 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns as a junior in 2004, earning all-region and all-Heart of Georgia honors. His senior season, he made 82 catches for 1,234 yards and 10 touchdowns, basically tripling his production from the previous year. The Atlanta Journal Constitution named him to its Class AA all-state first team, and Scout.com ranked him as the 22nd-best college prospect in Georgia.

After considering scholarship offers from Duke, Georgia and Georgia Tech, Demaryius Thomas chose the latter and suited up as a Yellow Jacket for the 2007 season. He ranked second on the team that year with 558 yards on 35 receptions, and he received a freshman All-America honorable mention from The Sporting News. During a game against Duke in 2008, he snagged nine balls for 230 yards, the second-highest single-game yard total in school history. Thomas opened the eyes of scouts across the nation with his breakout 2009 campaign, recording 46 receptions for 1,154 yards and 8 touchdowns, and earning first team Atlantic Coast Conference honors.

When Thomas was a little boy, he always told his mother that he would become a professional athlete. Through hard work and perseverance in the midst of agonizing family trials, he made that prediction come true 20 years later. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Thomas found a worthy pursuit and then did it with all his might! After his junior year at Georgia Tech, he entered the National Football League Draft. The Denver Broncos selected him 22nd overall, and he has been a megastar ever since.

From 2010-2014, Thomas’s mother and grandmother watched from a television set bolted to a wall in the prison lounge as “Baybay” took the league by storm. But in mid-2015, his mother got out of prison five years early for good behavior.

For Thomas, there was no question about how he would receive his mother: with a huge smile and a warm hug. He had already traveled down to Florida to visit her every three years on average. Not long after his mother was locked away, he began calling her every day. Once she was freed, he helped her transition smoothly back into society by buying her a house and a car. Many would harbor deep bitterness against a parent who essentially chose to be absent all those years, but not Demaryius Thomas.

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22). Christ says to forgive a person 490 times! Clearly, this implies infinite forgiveness; we shouldn’t be keeping a tally of offenses committed against us. Thomas exemplifies this godly character trait, even if he doesn’t know it.

On Jan. 17, 2016, Thomas’s mother watched her beloved son play sports in person for the first time since a coed middle school basketball game in 1999. Thomas’s Broncos defeated the New England Patriots in the American Football Conference championship game. His mother screamed so much that she had a headache for a week. Two weeks later, Thomas competed on the largest stage in the sporting world: Super Bowl 50. His mother attended, his Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers, and he raised the Lombardi Trophy.

Demaryius Thomas proved that success is not dependent on heredity and environment, though these factors certainly have an impact. He proved that it is possible to mend any relationship with the rare gift of forgiveness.

Unlike most sports stories, this one has a happy ending: Demaryius Thomas, Super Bowl champion. Mother and son, united again.