Day 180 - Forgive Everyone Involved
365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here Forgive Everyone Involved Day 180 When someone close to you has taken his or her life, a natural tendency is to try and understand the reason for it and to place blame. Be cautious. Focusing on blame will only make you bitter. Bitterness will not resolve any issues, but will block your healing. Shelly lost her son through suicide. She says, "Yes, there are people we could blame. But the greater challenge to us as Christians was to rise up and say, 'We forgive. We're not going to hold them accountable in any way, shape, or form.' "We did whatever we had to do to align ourselves in a way that we could imagine the Lord Jesus Christ doing. When we were willing to do that, we released healing, and we released miracles." Turn your thoughts to the things of God—His words, His attributes, His creation, His promises—and not to blame. "But there is forgiveness with thee" (Psalm 130:4 kjv). Lord, forgive me and open my heart to forgive others who are involved in this situation. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755 |