Woman texts dead father’s number, gets loving message from stranger years later

A 23-year-old woman, who lost her dad four years ago, says she received an emotional reply from a grieving stranger who was using her father's number. 

For more than four years, Chastity Patterson sent her father regular updates on her life as a way to connect with him and keep his memory alive.

The daily text messages were sent with no reply, until recently, when she received an emotional reply from a man named Brad, who was grieving after losing his daughter in a car crash.

Patterson said she received a response on the fourth anniversary of her father's death.

Patterson's message read: “Hey Dad, it’s me. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day again!” In the text message, she also wrote that she beat cancer, graduated from college and was keeping her mom “on her toes”.

Brad's response to her text messages said: “Hi sweetheart, I am not your father, but I have been getting all your messages for the past four years. 

“I look forward to your morning messages and your nightly updates. My name is Brad and I lost my daughter in a car wreck August 2014 and your messages kept me alive. When you text me, I know it's a message from God.”

The pair's exchange has been shared on Facebook more than 300,000 times and has garnered more than 21,000 comments.

Read their full conversation below: