We hear accounts of people who were victims or whose loved ones were victims of horrendous crimes. Some people may have lost their child, a spouse, a loved, one or both parents to death at the hands of cruel and heartless people. When interviewed, some who lost loved ones shared their startling revelations. They learned that their own lives were transformed by the power of forgiveness. They found that their own physical, mental, and spiritual health improved through the power of forgiving those who had wronged or hurt them.
The news once reported a story about two parents whose daughter was the victim of a cruel murder many years ago, and they spent every waking day seeing that the person responsible was brought to justice. They wanted to do everything possible to see that the murderer was punished. It so happened that the crime was committed by a young person when he was less than eighteen years of age. Although a juvenile, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The parents who lost their child said that their lives were filled with hatred, anger, and revenge towards the teenager. These feelings occupied all their waking thoughts. It made them physically sick. They could not even focus on spirituality because they were so angry with God for what had happened. Then, one day they realized that they had spent many years in this state of anger. They took the decision that not only had their child's life been lost, but both of their lives were also being lost to anger, hatred, and revenge. Then, they did the unthinkable. They decided to forgive the person who had committed the crime. They actually went to the prison where the person was incarcerated and told him they had forgiven him. They met the parents of the boy who committed the crime and realized how much they too were suffering by what their son had done. Instead of being angry with the boy's parents, they felt compassion that they too had in a way lost their son as he was sentenced to prison. Through forgiving the boy and his family, the parents experienced such a release of their pain that they could not believe it. Suddenly, they felt a great burden was lifted from their hearts. The person who had committed the crime when he was a young man was also moved by their power of forgiveness and was transformed by their love. They realized that through forgiving the perpetrator, they had in a way saved their own lives from further deterioration. Their health improved, they were able to function mentally again, and they felt the love of God flow through them.
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