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Freedom Through Grace

Posted on: October 23rd, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

Freedom Comes Through Forgiveness,justification, sin, no justification for sin, murder, kill, healing, following jesus, bible, bitterness, anger, answered prayer, redemption, redeem, obeying god, obedience, obedience to god, loving your enemy, hope, rebuking sin, repent, repentant, repentance, blame shifting, changed heart, scripture, letters to a murderer, our ways, gods ways, our will, god's will, forgiveness set me free, pain, victim, wound, romans 5:8Inspirational forgiveness story, forgiveness story, forgiveness testimony, christian forgiveness, biblical forgiveness, forgiveness, forgive, how do i forgive, how do you forgive, forgiving the unforgivable, freedom, freedom through forgiveness, grace, murder, forgiving murder, peace, jesus, god, christ, christian, grace to forgive, “He’s doing it again,” I told my friend, Sarah, “listen to this!” I read the letter I received that afternoon from Anthony.

“Why won’t he simply say ‘I did it. It was my fault. Period.’” I said. “He’s still trying to justify his actions! He committed murder! He killed my dad! There’s no justification for that!”

After talking it though, I sat down and began to type my response, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I wanted to rebuke him. Set him straight. He claimed to be a Christian now. Why isn’t he repentant? Why does he keep blame shifting? I thought.

I wrote, words pouring forth like flood waters out of my heart, addressing each of the issues and backing them with scripture. Oh, this is good, I thought, but I knew.

This was not the response God wanted.

I prayed, as I awaited direction from Jesus. Days passed and turned to weeks, and finally, the answer came.

Grace.

It was true. Anthony was far from where I wanted him to be. But, it was at this moment I felt Jesus speak to my soul. Leave Anthony to me. Now forgive. And honestly, the crazy thing is that I was given grace to forgive. In this moment. In the midst of my anger.

I sat down to revise my letter to Anthony, and at the end of it, I wrote,

…despite the fact that we will probably never see eye to eye in all areas, I do forgive you…. I hope this finds you well, and I pray that God heals you from your past as He is doing for me.  I pray that you learn to live your life for God wherever He has you, and that you’re able to find peace in this life.

Forgiveness set me free. I was free of the anger, the bitterness, and the pain that held me captive for over a decade.

What’s more is that after I extended grace, I witnessed a transformation that was almost palpable in Anthony, as Jesus brought him to a place of repentance and healing.

I was called to forgive. To love my enemy. To give Jesus unhindered access to the pain and bitterness which took residence in the deepest recess of my soul. Out of this––following Jesus into my unknown, scary places––I witnessed the redemption and grace of our mighty God.

We serve an amazing God.

A God who gives us grace to do the impossible.

A God who redeems.

And I encourage you today to place Christ at the center of your most broken relationship and extend the grace that was freely given to you.

…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

Have you ever experienced freedom through grace or forgiveness? Share in the comments.

3 Responses

  1. […] read more about Laurie’s journey toward forgiveness, read Freedom Through Grace or {Redemption} “Your Testimony May Have Saved a […]

  2. […] of Anthony’s. (If you have yet to read about what God did through our correspondence, read here or here, among many other […]

  3. […] (If you have yet to read about what God did through this journey toward forgiveness, read here or here, along with many other posts on this […]