Could you forgive your daughter? Video provided by: TruthMedia FIlms
William Blake once said, “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” Forgiving a family member can seem almost impossible. Often the ones who are closest to us end up hurting us. When that happens, we are faced with a choice. We can hold on to bitterness and anger or to release it, and find healing.
Of course, forgiveness will never be easy or straightforward. It takes time for wounds to fully heal. Have been holding on to bitterness and are reluctant to forgive someone? Is it time to seek reconciliation instead?
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We are the custodians of our children and therefore answerable to God as concerns their lives. Yes, many times they go astray, remember we too were children/teenagers and went astray in whichever way and at whatever stage/time. We are supposed to correct our children in love, forgive them, not once, (Matthew 18:22), Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.. If in Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”, we are to embrace the children, no matter the age, just as Jesus did.
Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” and in Psalm 51:2 “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”. Just as Jesus forgives us our sins every time and always, so should we forgive our children without condition, but with firmness. I do forgive my children but am firm with them and still love them as God forgives me and loves me always.
Yes it sure is the Prodigal son all over again….and you are so right Beth, it is easier to forgive when they come home then when they are away and don’t come home.
It’s the ‘prodigal son’ story all over again. As the mother of one such wayward child, I can testify that forgiving them when they come home is easy. Forgiving them when they DON’T come home is the hard part. We are much like that in our relationship to God. He is our Father, yet we leave him and run off to pursue our own desires. Then, when things get bad, we come running back to Him. He is always willing to forgive us. All we need do is ask.
We do ourselves. I was brought up spoiled being alonely child to parents that did love me, but was hard to show at times, becasue of there up bringing. I have forgiven them along time ago as wrote down on paper what I though of them and how they tried there best to raise me and I was not there own blood, but very special to them becasue they could not have children. I HAD TO WRITE THOSE NOTES. and am glad I did becaseu they are now with my Lord and He is my PARENT NOW!
Lessons lessons lessons.Who learns?
Nick, you sound a little bitter. You know, “kids” go wrong due to drugs, alcohol and/or mental illness – even when the parents have done the best they can. What is a “false belief”? A person believes what they believe – it’s not false to them.
Religion is neither legal or illegal. Remember, separation of church and state. You don’t want the government getting into religion, that’s how the USA was born – to get away from the British government and to come to this continent for freedome of their religious choice. Would you want the government to force you to choose a religion? I don’t think so.
Nick, I wonder how you would decide what kind of things should be legal for a parent to teach their children and which things aren’t? That seems somewhat arbitrary and harmful for a person/government to do, wouldn’t you say? What reasons do you have for claiming that religion should not be legal to teach until age 19? (And why is 19 the magical number?) Is it because you believe that any and all religion is inherently harmful? I would suggest that it is not …
if parents could raise there kids properly, we wouldnt need some false belief in “God”. Religion shouldn’t be legal will to teach until 19.
It is said that forgiveness is a choice yet it needs the grace of God to take the bold step of forgiveness. At times family members can hurt us repeatedly and deliberately. It is therefore upon us to choose to forgive and move on or otherwise. If God is not in one’s life, forgiveness can be almost impossible, but when we remember that He forgave us and lay His life down for us, and that it is by forgiving others that we too are forgiven, then it is paramount to make the right choice of forving others.
It is one of the hardest things to do, is to forgive a family mrmber. My brother abused me, then my son did the same to my daughter. It was only Gods love and grace that enabled me to forgive,..to stop bitternes from creeping in. I forgive, because I love them, and there was not a choice between do I, or do I not, forgive.God has forgiven me so much more than I will ever have to forgive.The hardest thing for me, was to forgive myself, for not protecting my daughter.God, in His compassion, has taught me to do that. Praise His name
I have heartbreak and grief within me over my youngest daughter who is mentally ill and homeless. I am in constant pain over it. She has been in and out of jail and has had two stays in a state hospital. She is 34 years old and has had nothing but a hard life since she was 18 years old!
There seems to be nothing I can do to help her. I live two states away, but I did let her live with me from the age of 22 to 26 and it was a nightmare. I didn’t know anything about mental illness until she was diagnosed in 2008 when she was in the state hospital for evaluation. There’s too much to tell for a short “comment” space, but this video really touched me. I know that father’s heartbreak. For me, it is not a matter of forgiveness… of course, I forgive her. I love her more than words can say.
I think forgiving a little harder when it is relative but God told that as i forgive your sin ,forgive your self one another.so it is must to be forgivness.
God has forgiven us of so many sins and it displeases him if we do not forgive others that hurt us. Many times..hurting people hurt others without meaning to due us harm. We ought to remember that we do not fight against flesh and blood it is the evil one in this world that will do anything to tear relationships apart exspecially familys and followers of Christ. The above clip reminded me of the prodigal son in the bible…we ought to shout with JOY when others are seeking our forgivness..I was sexually and verbally abused by family members BUT once Jesus entered my heart and the Holy Spirit began to work on the layers of anger and hatred such forgivness and mending arouse…
It is hard to forgive if someone does something that has really hurt you. Hanging on to anger and bitterness only hurts you. Forgiveness sets you free. Jesus has forgiven me so I feel it is imperative to forgive others.
Well! Forgiveness-that is hard one, but you know He forgave us for killing Him on a tree. Can we not do like wise to others? When we do the burden is lifted from the compassionate Teacher, who rose from the grave for ME.