something decisive happens
When we forgive, again,
something decisive happens
In Healing Life’s Hurts,
Matthew and Dennis Linn
Tell of an inner-healing workshop they observed
The men and women present
Were all once divorced and had remarried
They had come to retreat
Hoping for healing of the anger and hostility
They felt toward their former spouses.
During the weekend session
The remarried couples were slowly and prayerfully
Led into ways in which they could grow
From their past relationships and use what they learned
To build new patterns of love and forgiveness in their current marriages.
After a year,
the group reunited to discuss what had happened
in the aftermath of the retreat.
The Linns reported:
“Out of the seven who forgive their former spouse
after the years of resentment, five found their former spouses
had suddenly made an effort to forgive and build a bridge toward them.
One suddenly called a week after the workshop,
another traveled two thousand miles to see his family,
and another wrote his first letter in ten silent years.
Forgiveness frees us to both give and receive love
It is one of the most important things
we must practice in marriage.
