The Power Of Forgiveness
“If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”
Psalm 130:3-4 (NKJV)
One morning in 1987, a man took his twenty year old daughter to a parade in a town in Northern Ireland. As the father and daughter stood beside a brick wall waiting for the parade to march in front of them, a terrorist’s bomb exploded behind them, instantly killing several people and leaving them crushed under a pile of bricks. Unable to move, the father soon felt his daughter take hold of his hand.
Over the screaming voices around them, the father asked his daughter, “Are you all right?” “Yes,” she said. At one point the daughter said to her father, “Daddy, I love you very much”. She never said another word; she died of brain and spinal injuries about four hours later in a local emergency room.
That night, the father granted an interview to a reporter. When asked how he felt about the people who planted the bomb, he replied, “I bear them no ill will. Bitter talk is not going to bring my daughter back to life. I shall pray every night that God will forgive them.”
Months later, people asked the father how he could forgive such a brutal act. He said, “My daughter’s last words to me were words of love which had put me on a plane of love. I received God’s grace, through the strength of His love for me, to forgive.”
What a fine example of forgiveness to all of us!!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us through your grace and through the strength of your love for us, to forgive all who do us wrong.
Amen
Study by Allan Frankcom
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About the Author:
Allan Frankcom is on the Pastoral Council of the Bristol Congregation of the Worldwide Church of God, UK. He and his wife, Julie have attended the Bristol Church for over 30 years.
Local Congregation:
Worldwide Church of God Bristol
Emmersons Green Village Hall
Emmerson Way
EMMERSONS GREEN
South Gloucestershire
BS16 7AP
Meeting time:
Saturday 11:30am
Local Congregational Contact:
Allan Frankcom
Email: jf007d9991@blueyonder.co.uk
Ian Woodley says:
Hello Allan, many thanks for your Day By Day on forgiveness. The story you told stopped me dead in my thoughts – on just how easy it easy to talk about forgiveness, but how incredibly hard it is to actually forgive. The example of this bereaved father in Northern Ireland is tremendous – thank you for taking the time to write this article.
God Bless
Ian