Good Book - Choosing Forgiveness

 The subject of forgiveness is often a touchy, sensitive issue for many people.  Someone has been deeply hurt, and boy, oh boy, don't talk about forgiving the offender!  Forgiving can be one of the most absolutely difficult things to do!  Nancy Leigh DeMoss, in her book Choosing Forgiveness, explains that to forgive can put a person on the road to freedom.  However, to NOT forgive, takes one somewhere else.

 Those of us who have never been wounded (is it possible?), may glibly tell others to "forgive; we are supposed to do so, Jesus said so".  The "walking wounded" (DeMoss' term) though, often walk around numb and wondering how it all happened and spiraled out of control even between those who used to be good friends.  

It is a blessing then to have DeMoss explore this topic from several perspectives.  The angles of refusing to forgive; forgiveness being a promise (! once forgiven never to bring that subject up again!); forgiving for Jesus' sake (our motivation to do so despite the ordeal we've been 'dragged" through); the art of forgiveness (meaning the 'how to' find freedom from the issue enough to overcome by God's grace and in order to reconcile and restore relationships even when years -even decades may have passed by; even if the other person had passed on).  Further to all that, she takes a look at what forgiveness is and is not; and in the end can one go above and beyond just the act of forgiving to being able to bless the offender?  Mercy and grace are two words that will come into play and for the reader to discover.  These are the Christian way.

To assist this message to be better understood, the author uses some actual examples even of extreme offences where folks have chosen to forgive and the astounding results of those decisions.  Whether "smaller" or "bigger" the offences, the instances of forgiveness being bestowed precipitate equal wonders of God transpiring in their wake.  A person changed by God's grace can choose to forgive and begin a domino effect in the next person's life bringing not only reconciliation with the offended but with God Himself.

May the power of God's forgiveness descend upon each one who reads this book and chooses to forgive.  May these actions then have far-reaching effects rippled out to others, who in turn, will be able to forgive their oppressors, perpetrators, and/or those who have unintentionally offended another, and in that gut-wrenching turmoil of misunderstanding, reach out for the olive leaf of peace-making and forgiveness.

May you each be blessed by Choosing Forgiveness.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss' current surname is now Wolgemuth

                                                     ~ERC  March 2021~