The Path of Forgiveness and Healing
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4327
It’s easy to talk about forgiveness:
about wanting to forgive, hoping to forgive, even knowing that someday
we will need to forgive. It’s much more difficult to choose to forgive.
But those who do find that this critical choice marks an important first
step on the path to true healing.
Such was the case with Chris
Williams, who had every reason not to forgive. A few years ago, a
17-year-old drunk driver hit the car he was driving, killing his
expectant wife and two of their four children. Severely injured, Chris
lay trapped in the car, feeling the most intense pain he had ever
experienced. He later recounted that in the midst of all the chaos, his
thoughts went quiet, and he felt peace enough to hear a voice inside his
mind—a voice that was "straightforward and filled with power.” It
simply said, "Let it go!”1 And so, in that very moment, Chris decided
that, no matter what the future held, he would forgive. He would set his
feet on the path of forgiveness and, in effect, save his own life.
As the next weeks turned into years,
Chris repeatedly acted upon his choice to forgive. In the hospital
emergency room, he asked a friend to pray for the teenage driver. To the
press, he issued a statement asking for stories of forgiveness that he
could share with his surviving sons. As Chris began to heal, he reached
out to the driver. He prayed for the young man; he encouraged him to go
forward and make something of his life.
Choosing to forgive did not make
everything easy for Chris ever after. He still experienced intense
periods of grief and loneliness, heartache and anguish. But he sought
heaven’s help and strength. He remembered the peace he had felt and the
decision he had made. And, without fail, every time he chose to "let it
go,” his burden was lifted and he took one more step on the path of
forgiveness and healing.
1 Chris Williams, Let It Go: A True Story of Tragedy and Forgiveness (2012), 28.
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