Pro-life video of the day: Forgiveness
by LauraLoo
Forgiveness is a new Christian song by Matthew West. It was inspired by Renee, a woman who lost her daughter in a drunk driving accident but eventually was able to extend forgiveness to Eric, the man who killed her daughter.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lu5udXEZI[/youtube]
What’s even more amazing is Renee fought to reduce the prison sentence of Eric by 50%. He is due to be released from prison this month, and it will be exciting to see how God will work in their lives as they present their testimony to various communities.
As great as forgiving one another is, there is nothing that compares to a person receiving (and feeling) God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.
[HT: WMBI – Moody Chicago]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I would never forgive anyone for killing one of my kids. My kids are my entire life.
I don’t know that I could forgive someone who killed a member of my family because of drunk driving, either, Jack. It would be hard.
Forgiveness and letting go are some of the hardest things, really. I often think of my partner’s mother when I think of this. Her oldest son is mentally handicapped and while he can hold a job, drive, etc, he will never be able to live independently. So he has lived with his parents his whole life, and is now 45 years old. Ten years ago, their father had a heart attack and died while working in the basement. It was traumatic for their family and it was a total shock.
I was speaking to his mother some time ago about all of this and she said that the one thing she has always been grateful for is that she was home when her husband died. Not because she helped him, but because if her older son, the one with mental difficulties, had been home alone, she didn’t know if she would ever really be able to stop wondering if he could have saved his father or helped in some way. Wondering if he waited too long, confused or scared, before calling an ambulance. She said that she would always wonder and would probably never really be able to forgive even the suspicion that her son could have saved his father’s life but didn’t. And so she was relieved even in her grief that she didn’t have to struggle with forgiveness, too. I thought that was such an honest admission, and so heartbreaking.
Thanks Laura.
I bet my life you would Jack.
I really don’t think I would Tyler. There are only a few unforgivables in my mind and hurting my kids is one of them.
My article about the Carrollton Bus Crash is at http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/article/the-carrollton-school-bus-inferno/index.html
Factory worker Larry Mahoney was drunk when he crashed headlong into the bus — killing 27 people, 24 of them children.
Some people hated him.
Some forgave him. One young lady had terrible burns on her arms. People in high school made fun of her because of it. She eventually wrote to Larry Mahoney telling him that she forgave him. He wrote back and she visited him in prison.
I know of a case in which a woman was distracted by a fight between her own kids in the backseat of the car. She recalled only take her eyes off the road for “a moment” — but that moment was long enough for her to run over and kill four teenaged girls.
The four girls had a group funeral. A spokesperson for their families asked, at the request of the parents of the killed teenagers, that people pray for the driver who had killed them and for her family.
Our pastor says that forgiveness is one of the main keys of Christianity. Have you ever forgiven God, for being God? Or Christ for being Christ, and demanding His followers forgive?
There are only a few unforgivables in my mind and hurting my kids is one of them.
Jack, your comment made me think up a couple of Would You Rather questions:
Would you rather your child rape someone or be raped?
Would you rather your child torture or be tortured?
Would you rather you child murder someone or be murdered?
What if one of your children killed another one of your children? It happens. Could you forgive them?
Granting forgiveness is a choice but necessary, I believe, to stop the cycle of anger.
What do you think of the parents of those four teenaged girls who were killed by that distracted driver?
Someone speaking on their behalf asked those at the funeral to pray for her and her family.
I don’t know Prax I just don’t. If I can’t even forgive my parents than I sure as heck don’t see myself forgiving anyone who hurt them. I don’t know how you even begin to forgive stuff like that.
JackBorsch says:
November 17, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I don’t know Prax I just don’t. If I can’t even forgive my parents than I sure as heck don’t see myself forgiving anyone who hurt them. I don’t know how you even begin to forgive stuff like that.
(Denise) Could you forgive that woman who killed because she was distracted for a moment by a kid fight in the back of her car?
Welcome Tyler. LL :D