Forgiveness- Mary's Testimony
How can I forgive someone who hurt me so much?
Anger is a feeling usually caused from injustice and
people do against us. However when one keeps grudges
in his heart, he is just making things worse for
himself. Grudges and also hatred are like a caner
that eats up one’s soul.
The truth is that when you hold grudges, you are not
harming the person who offended you, but you’re
hurting yourself.
Forgiveness dares you to imagine a better future. It
challenges you to give up you destructive thoughts
and build confidence that you can survive the pain
and even learn from it.
In the line below, Mary from JHB will tell us how
she was hurt in the past, and how she dealt with the
situation:
My suffering started when I was 8 years old, a man
who was living in the same street raped me. He
called me to buy him something from the shop, when I
came back into his house and then he pointed the gun
on my heads and forced himself upon me. It was very
painful; from that day I wasn’t the same girl again.
I started hating the world, feeling alone as if
everyone was rejecting me, as if everyone who looked
at me knew what happened. It was very difficult to
cope with my situation.
I blamed my mum for that because she left us alone
when we were very little to look for a job and many
times she wouldn’t come back home. She was trying
her best to support us but she couldn’t. We had no
place to live, no food at home; life was miserable.
I hated my mother in such a way that I wanted to
kill her. I thought that through her death, I would
be free, that I would be happy again.
So one day I took a knife to stab her but she
grabbed the knife so I failed. When I saw that I
couldn’t kill her, I tried to kill myself three
times by drinking a mixture of poisonous liquids. It
didn’t work either. I ended up thinking that not
even death wanted me!
I felt very low because I tried to kill myself, I
failed; I tried to kill my mother, I failed;
everything fails for me. And I didn’t know what else
to do.
My mother started coming to the church and I noticed
something different in her.
So I asked to go with her to the church and she
became extremely surprised. At the church, I learned
many things about how to use my faith and most
importantly, I learned that I had to forgive my
mother because if I don’t forgive her, I’m the one
who’s being hurt.
So I had a serious conversation with my mum. I
forgave her and also asked her to forgive me. After
that, I prayed to God and asked him strength to
forgive that man who raped me. He disappeared from
that time, but I forgave and prayed for God to touch
his heart wherever he was.
From that day, I tell you, my life has changed.
Today I’m very happy I learned to love people, I
like everyone. I’m free from that torment that was
in me. I would like to invite those who are in the
same problem to come to Jesus and he will help them,
finalize Mary with a big smile of relief.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you,
you heavenly Father will also forgive you: Matthew
16: 14)
Are you keeping grudges towards someone? Do you want
God to forgive you and give you strength to forgive
each other’s?. The decision is yours. You have the
power to change situation by forgiving and letting
go of the past. After all there may come a day when
you are the one in need of forgiveness. |
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