Sunday 20 September 2020
Forgiveness
As a widow in Colorado,
Mrs. Hanna was filled with hate and bitterness toward the man who had just
killed her daughter. She found it absolutely impossible to forgive him after he
was captured, found guilty, and sent to prison. She wrote, “All that seemed
alive was the hate burning within me.....consuming everything in me that had once
responded to love, beauty and laughter.” Eventually, she realized that she was
being consumed by hate even though she believed in a forgiving God. She
arranged to have a Bible sent to the prisoner with her personal message of love
and forgiveness. Previously sullen and morose, the imprisoned man asked the
intermediary to tell “Mrs. Hanna that she had given me a gift such as I have
never had before....If she could show me such forgiveness, I have hope and
faith that God could do the same.” The experience changed his life, and he
ended up ministering to other prisoners. Reflecting on the change, Mrs. Hanna
observed: “No one had ever told him that he was loved.” Mrs. Hanna herself felt
that a great burden has been lifted from her.
Yes....it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
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