Power of Forgiveness

I quickly ran out the door to catch my father because I remembered something important I wanted to tell him before he drove away. In my attempt to catch him,I forgot about the frying pan I left burning on the stove. My husband saw smoke brewing over it and quickly moved the pan. The hot grease slid up the side of the pan and onto his hand. By the time I got back into the house he was in agony and running cold water over his hand.

I felt horrible. I could not believe I left the pan on a burning stove and that he took the pain of my mistake. I was certain he would be angry at me and I certainly was angry with myself. Without one word of anger, he ran his hand under cold water for quite some time to prevent the burning from penetrating the layers of skin. We carefully dried it and put lavender oil on it and then I tearfully apologized several times as I wrapped his hand in gauze. He graciously replied, "It was a mistake, it will be okay, I will be okay." His second degree burn has scared his hand to this day. Often times when I look at his hand and see the discoloration from the scars, I am reminded of the power of forgiveness.

I now have a place in my soul that clearly “knows how it feels” to be the forgiven one. When he holds me with that hand - I am free to love and be loved by him. The wall of unforgiveness does not keep us separated. Guilt and shame of making this mistake does not reign over the power of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is NOT a natural human instinct. When somebody does us wrong, it is often hard to forgive them and move forward. There is something inbred in us that longs for justice. However, there are stories upon stories where people make mistakes and there is nothing they can do to change it. We cannot turn back the hands of time and undo what has happened. We have to choose between forgiveness and unforgiveness.

Oh but the joy of forgiveness! To have and to know what it means to be forgiven. Jesus made the way for us to give and receive forgiveness. He took all the mistakes of mankind that led to sinful lives, lives that would separate us from the Heavenly Father, and carried them to the cross. Upon that cross He pleaded, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34 And then shortly after word, He took His last breath. His death did not end with a plea, but in victory! When He arose from the grave it became very clear that Christ had the victory over all the mistakes and sins of fallen world. He became the ultimate example of forgiveness for mankind to see. We now have the opportunity to grow and walk in it and discover the Power of Forgiveness on our journey in life….

This blog will focus on the Power of Forgiveness over the next few weeks. Forgiveness is a lifelong process for everyone because we frequently run into opportunities, by default of our humanity, to mature in it.



God Bless!
Deborah