Ok, so yesterday I read this book and the day before I had been reading this other book and both of them were biographies on these two very different individuals with incredible stories which highlighted forgiveness... and I knew I wanted to write on this. Now lately I feel like I have been giving book reports and I half apologize but they are so inspiring!! I feel selfish keeping this all to myself.
Sidenote: If you aren't reading books... you should.
Caution though, guard what you are reading.
Grow your brain and heart, don't rot them.
End Sidenote.
So anyways, very quickly, one story was about a Cambodian teenager who saw his entire family killed (I'm talking about 10 siblings, his parents, his sister-in-law and his nephew) during a very cruel time in Cambodian history but ended up surviving with only his one sister. The other book was about this Dutch lady who survived the concentration camps during world war II (She was sent there because she helped a 'Jew' who later betrayed her family and turned out to be working for the Germans) but the rest of her family did not survive.
Now, with that base of tragedy, both these incredible people suffered loss which resulted in bitterness and crazy frustrating anger as they became prisoners in their own country and watched the people they loved die off, at the hands of others. And this is the part that gets me, they both came face to face with their exact prison guards and the men that killed their families... and they both came to forgive. WOW! If I'm making it sound like forgiveness was an easy decision for them I apologize as it most definitely was not.
Corrie Ten Boom (the Dutch lady) became a speaker after the war and one day gave a talk on forgiveness and immediately after came face to face with one of her cruelest prison guards. The guard had transformed his life and was asking for her forgiveness. Can you imagine, being asked to put into practice exactly what you just spoke on despite the fear and anger that this guys face caused her? She says this: "Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand (to shake the guards outstretched hand). I can do that much. You supply the feeling." Whoaaaaaa. This lady is incredible to me. She knows she doesn't have the strength, but she never ever doubts that God will be her strength.
Oh man my heart just feels so uplifted by this for two reasons. One, both of these people I would think would be fully justified never forgiving their enemies and simply looking for revenge their entire lives, I mean at first glance that makes sense.But that would have kept them in emotional prison, they sought forgiveness and they found freedom in forgiving! That is incredible. I feel giddy over this. Hearts held captive are set free through God's power!! Two, even though their emotions didn't feel like it, God gave them the strength to forgive, oh thank goodness, we do not have to lean on our own strength when forgiving those that we do not feel like forgiving because of the wrongs they did us.
My heart feels good about this. My heart rejoices. Forgiveness isn't easy, but letting God help you is. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I like this day.
Friends, there's a million more things I could say but basically my main thought is that God's strength will forever be more powerful than our own. Lean on his strength to help you through whatever circumstance that you think may be too hard or impossible to overcome. I have such a big smile on my face. I love God. SO HAPPY TO BE ALIVE TODAY!!!
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