“Even if the kidnapper were to bring Susie back, alive and well, I could kill him with my bare hands and a smile on my face.”
This was Marietta Jaeger’s reaction when her 7-year-old daughter was abducted from their campground. But Marietta was a Christian, and as days turned into months without word of her daughter, she knew she had to forgive (Romans 12:17-21).
What happened next is truly incredible.
Her daughter’s kidnapper called to taunt Marietta on the 1-year anniversary of his crime. But Marietta's kindness turned his taunts into tears. Inadvertently, he shared information that led to his arrest.
Even though her daughter was dead, as she had long suspected, Marietta remained forgiving toward the murderer.
When we hear this, it sounds impossible. How can a mother forgive such a thing?
It's beyond human strength and understanding. But that's the whole point of the gospel. Marietta and others like her prove we can do all things through Christ (Ephesians 3:20; Philippians 4:13).
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Source: The Night I Forgave My Daughter's Killer
This story has another interesting twist: Marietta asked that her daughter's murderer receive life in prison (without parole) instead of the death sentence. Because of this, he confessed to several other murders, allowing other victims' families to find closure.
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Bible Love Notes
Gail...that story is a powerful witness. Thank you for sharing it. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this Gail. Sometimes a mother can forgive in ways even she can't understand because of the power of the Holy Spirit living in her.
ReplyDeletethis is an amazing testament to really living out faith. Thanks you so much for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI find this testimony amazing and others like this but honestly I don't understand. Because what was taken from them can neaver be fixed yet they open their hearts to such kindness and love in order to forgive. Other you've written about some have even witnessed to their murders so that they can see the glory. My inpass is I too am a Christian but I honestly can't forgive my twin brother. He has an abusive temper aas kids I was always o The receiving end of his fists. As an adult with 3 children of my own and he lives 2000 miles away he has still managed when he comes to see the folks and me has hit me or face slammed my face in front of my kids but a month ago was simply the worse. We were arguing on the care of our parents, my dad 90 on hospice 3 years and mom 89 who can barely walk all insist they still live in the country in a 5 bed room home and I've been the care taker but because of my sever back issues from another trauma 29 years ago my 6 herniated disk in lower back made it more and more difficult for me to care for them and the other 4 kids all live hundreds of miles away except me. Well, In the heat of discord my twin out of no ware halled off and belted me in the face so hard that its caused traumatic PVD, a d the Dr. Say it likely my retina will detach from the eye which will cause blindness if not cought right away. This can take 6 to 8 months before the fluid detaches and causes this, meanwhile my vistion has decreased. I was a 20/20 but now I am 20/50 with huge floaters and a haze over 3/4 of my vistion, he also gave me a concustion which lasted a few weeks. At this poi t I don't know the outcome of my eye or the long term affects. I am not able to forgive him for what hes taken from me. Yet I read your stories and wonder how can anybody forgive yet witness to a murderer and I can't forgive for this. We are humans and have our limits, I don't feel like I am that big of a person to move forward from this. Not inky for what's hes taken but we own 3 pieces of property together from a family trust and he is the trustee, and he thinks he rules and what he says we do etc with tunel vistion and will not take input from us other 4. It's like being dictated by a torrent and I am his biggest opposition. So untill everything is settled and I am do e caring g for the folks and the land split I am continuing to be forced to deal with some one who is not rational. The other kids do t have any legs to stand on and don't confront him when hes wrong but I do and that's why he hits me because he can't stand it when som8stands up to him. So I ask how can I be a bigger person, I am human and cant forgive. I offered him grace and told him he had to go to an anger management course or I'd finish the police report I had started, he accepted my grace but instead of doing it the right way he took a 4 hour in line class. As if 4 hours listening to somone talk is gonna make a dent on someone who's cultivated these bad behaviors for 58 years.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for the many cruelties you have suffered from your brother. But let me explain the real meaning of forgiveness: Forgiveness does not mean the other person is right or good. In fact, if there is something to forgive, it means they were wrong and bad.
DeleteAnd you don't forgive them for their sake.
You forgive them for your sake.
When we allow bitterness to take hold of our hearts, it ruins many things in our lives. Bitterness doesn't hurt the person who has hurt us. It hurts us.
So we forgive because we love God and because we want to have a clean and healthy spirit.
It doesn't mean we trust the person who offended us, nor does it means we let ourselves be abused.
The woman in this story helped the police find the man who murdered her daughter, and even though she requested he not get the death penalty, she still knew he needed to be in prison. So forgiveness doesn't mean that the bad person doesn't pay the consequences for his sins.
It means that we don't pay the consequences for bitterness. We trust God to punish Him.
I hope that helps you understand a bit.