Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a remarkable story about forgiveness.
The story begins with one teenager’s fascination with his stepfather’s gun. This teenager was named Harold and he secretly stole it from an unlocked drawer and took it to school. It was a chance for Harold to show off and be cool. He took the gun several times to school, until one day, while passing it around to several friends, Harold playfully aimed the gun at Lourdes—a 13-year-old schoolmate who was standing by. He pulled the trigger to what he thought was a gun that would not fire. He was wrong. Lourdes was shot in the neck, dying almost instantly. In one instant, this young man went from being a friend to this 13-year-old girl, to being her killer. And Ady—the single mother of this child—Ady was outraged. In an interview, she confessed: she wanted revenge. She wanted this teenager to pay for what he had done, and to pay for his crime in an adult prison, not a juvenile detention facility. But that’s when the Lord began to work in Ady’s heart.
You see, the more Ady raged against this boy, the worse she felt. And over time she just got tired of the constant turmoil in her heart. It was like her resentment became her prison; it gripped her; it enslaved her. Finally, Ady realized that there was no satisfaction, or relief, or peace to be found in her anger. No, if she was going to ever learn how to live again, she had to get free of her bitterness. It was around that time that someone told her about the forgiveness that could be found in Jesus Christ – and the same forgiveness that God showed her? Well, He wanted her to pass it on to others, yes, to even Harold, that 16-year-old boy who killed her daughter. And so, Ady embraced Christ and embraced the chance to pass on the forgiveness that was at work in her own heart.
In fact, when they were in court, she embraced the young man and asked the judge to give him a more lenient sentence. This is the way Ady describes that moment: she said, “I felt peace. I felt that my daughter wanted me to hug him. This is a young man, a boy who did something wrong under careless parents. I’m a child of God. Justice is done. I forgive him.” Oh friend, this woman could have asked for the strongest sentence possible for this teenager, but instead she offered him mercy—the mercy she had received from the Lord Jesus. Yes, Ady still feels pain and grief, but with the support of her family and the peace that comes from above, Ady is reaching out beyond just Harold to other children around the nation.
Get this: Once Harold is released from the juvenile facility, court orders have him traveling with Ady to schools to speak about gun violence and to educate children about the dangers of lethal weapons. Think about that: Ady has chosen to continue to see her daughter’s killer; she is choosing to stand by his side as she speaks about her daughter’s story. In so doing, no doubt she will relive the reality that her daughter is no longer by her side. Ady knows it’s going to be difficult to bear, but as she says, “We’ll be helping other kids learn about gun violence and forgiveness; and Harold and I will be showing them that we can forgive.” Oh my goodness, that, my friend, is an amazing story. And what is most amazing is the power of forgiveness through Christ. Would you, like Ady, wish to be free of resentment? Would you like to find relief and peace? Then come to my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and ask for your free copy of “Forgiving Others.” Read it and be amazed at the power of forgiveness in your life – all because of God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
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