A Forgiveness Story

I received this email yesterday that absolutely BLEW my mind and caused me to CELEBRATE...stories like these never get old!!!

I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you a story. I was molested as a child by my sister. I had suppressed that memory for years and when it came back to me I have had problems dealing with it, both mental and physical. Forgiveness was not an option. Anger and hatred were all I had for my sister.

Last week Perry talked about forgiveness. He said that I can't have Gods forgiveness unless I was also willing to forgive. I wrote both the name of my sister and my mom who I also blamed for years for not keeping me safe from this attack. I was sure as soon as I wrote it that Perry was going to ask us to break the stick, symbolizing the forgiveness and ask us to give it to Christ. I was not sure I could break the stick. My eyes welled up with tears as I asked God what to do.

When Perry counted to 3 I snapped that stick and felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I sent a text to my sister consisting if 3 words. I Forgive You. I posted on Facebook from outside the Florence campus how I felt that the sermon was just for me. I had no idea how right I was.

A week later, after today's sermon actually, I spoke to my other sister. We talked about other things and then I asked her if she heard what I had done. She paused and said yes. She then told me that our sister was crying later that day and confessed she had written a suicide note and was about to take her life when she got my text. She threw it away and is still alive. Things are still strained, it is a long road from hatred and anger to laughing and smiling, but I think we will get there.

God used me to save her. GOD IS AWESOME!!!