"We talked about forgiveness in Sunday School yesterday. You know where Jesus says we should forgive 7x70 times in Matthew 18:22. My wife taught me the meaning of forgiveness several years back through her life example."
He went on to share her story...
His wife was abused and neglected by her birth mom and dad for the first few years of her life, then her and her brother were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Eventually they were adopted by a family up around Enid.
This wasn't a good situation either. They were basically treated as servants. Their parents much favored their biological children. They never celebrated her or her brother's birthdays and she basically spent her young years picking up after and caring for her siblings. Every year it got worse and into her teen years it became unbearable.
At about 15-16 years of age she finally had her fill and moved in with a family some 100 miles south of Enid. It was in this new community that she met Elmer and they dated a short time. This was a much better home situation for her, but short lived. Her younger brother got word to her that he and their adoptive father were in an altercation and he didn't think he could bear it any longer. She immediately packed her few belongings, hitched a ride to Enid and they ran away together to Texas. That was the last Elmer heard from her for a while. Well, they did meet up on her way back through to Texas and "kissed a little, because that was what we did back then," Elmer said. (This brought a snicker from me)
Once in Texas she got a job working as a waitress in a cafe. It was there she met a young man and they hit it off pretty good. He asked her out one day and she went to the movies with him. After the movie on their walk home he kissed her and attempted more. She resisted and he raped her.
She told her brother about it and they went to talk to the judge to press charges. The judge said he could only help her if she would help him. He then made sexual advances toward her and she left with her brother. She said her brother tried to find the fellow who raped her to no avail.
A few weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. She had no one to turn to but her adoptive family. She stayed with them for a short while, then they sent her off to a home where she was to have her baby and give it up for adoption. She was ok with that as she knew she couldn't care for the child as she should. She eventually discovered though that her parents were actually selling her baby through this facility she was staying in. She could be no part of that so she again ran away to Texas.
In Texas she somehow discovered a doctor who said he would deliver her baby and had a home for it. She agreed. Once again it had been a while since her and Elmer had been together. She was scared though, and gave him a call. He made his way down to meet her and set in the car with her as she waited to go into the doctor's office. A pleasant memory of Elmer's is her letting him put his hand on her stomach and feel the baby move. They figure the doctor probably adopted the child, but aren't sure. They continued to pray for God's blessing on the child over the years.
Of course they did eventually marry and had four children of their own. They had a very long and happy life together. They served in the ministry together, him building and repairing churches and such and her teaching and raising their children.
Elmer concluded his story...
"One day as she lay in the nursing home fighting for her last bits of sanity before totally succumbing to that horrid Alzheimer's, she muttered to me,
'I have forgiven them you know.'
"I was pretty sure what she was talking about," he said, "but I asked anyway, 'Forgiven who, Sweetheart?'"
She responded simply, "All of them."
"Those were not her last words" He said. "She lived many more months following that. Her mind had been fading long before though and these were the last words of reason I recall her sharing."
What words of reason they were too. She had lived a life of peace and blessing, not because she had not experienced pain and disappointment, but because she had forgiven those who brought it upon her.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and we both set in silence as we both finished our breakfast. I now had a new understanding of forgiveness.
No comments:
Post a Comment