Those are great testimonies to the power of forgiveness.
I do believe one should be cautious though, not for their own decisions, but in influencing others. Sometimes professional help is important so damage isn’t done.
I belong to a recovery group, 31 years now, and forgiveness and amends are a big part of it. Lots of people like to give advice, stemming from their own personal experiences only, even though situations vary greatly.
My friend Alice killed herself after being pushed to forgive and make amends to her father, who molested her for her entire childhood. Well it wasn’t Alice that did it, but Fae, one of her split personalities. I guess not an uncommon result of severe childhood abuse.
She also thought forgiveness meant giving her young daughters to her father. It didn’t work out well.
What a tragic story.
Very sad that she didn’t understand the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. It is vast. I gather that the abusive father had not shown remorse, repentance, and asked poor Alice for forgiveness. That’s a good sign of what she was dealing with....her poor daughters.
You’re right CB. Far too many variables. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
......
Very sad, should never put somebody in a dangerous position like that, bad advice. I had a friend who was molested at 13 by an uncle, suffered depression at 18, became schizophrenic at 21, for 30 years she suffered, on tons of meds, she actually was a pt. of mine in ICU. Finally she went to a church and asked for prayer, she was told to go fast and pray for 30 days, she did then came back and was prayed for , God healed her right then. I actually worked with her in ICU after that. She was an awesome Christian, even atheists loved her.