Once something happened in our family that showed us the power of forgiveness. 2004 had just arrived. The first day of the New Year was wonderful.
At two in the afternoon our choir held the first New Year’s service. After the meeting, a few families got together at Volodya and Yulia Kopeika’s place and we had a great time. We sang, discussed some extracts from Scripture, reminisced about “the days gone by” and came back home at around midnight. That night we slept really well, because just like everyone, we stayed up all New Year’s Eve almost until morning, and then were catching up on some sleep. And in the morning, to our dismay, we found that somebody had stolen… our angel.
Mentally picturing the bewilderment of my reader, I will quickly try to explain. The previous year we did a great deal of work decorating our yard. We made new flower beds and paths, planted new grass, built a gazebo and installed two garden benches with old-style cast iron sides. And on both sides of the gazebo, in the middle of the flower beds, we placed two statues of angels. Pure white, with prayerfully folded arms, surrounded by flowers, the angels beautifully decorated our yard.
We code named this project “The Garden of Eden”. When friends asked me why we called it so, I explained to them that I decided to bring to life an old proverb: “If you want your wife to be an angel, provide her with a life in paradise.” This answer satisfied everyone, and the two angels, adorning our yard, served as confirmation for all to see.
But, all of a sudden, on January 2, one of the angels was stolen… My heart was starting to fill with a familiar chill of annoyance and indignation. Angry words and “curses”, that are typically uttered in such situations, were right on the tip of my tongue. But at that moment, I remembered about the law of forgiveness and said:
– Lyuba, we won’t be able to retrieve this loss. We can get angry, or cry, but all the same, it will make us feel only worse. Our mood will be spoiled at the very beginning of the year. I think, using this loss, the devil wanted to disturb our spiritual peace, so that we would start the year with sorrow and cussing. Let’s do it differently. We won’t give Satan a chance to rejoice, and we’ll take something precious from this insignificant event. From now on we’ll pray for this person and their family, bless them and ask for repentance for them. Perhaps, nobody has ever prayed for them, and that will be our answer to the devil and his temptation.
Lyuba willingly agreed and we made our first prayer right there in the yard. We told the Lord that we forgave this person and asked God to bless them and their family with repentance and knowledge of the truth. We prayed that the Lord would bless them financially and this person would leave the ways of sin for good and turn to God. We had been praying for them for many days.
I want to honestly admit, that I did it for the first time in my life, although I had already been going to church for a few decades. And despite all my spiritual experience, I found out that such a prayer wasn’t easy for me. I had to put effort into it, patiently fighting hostility and resentment, and forgive this person. In reality, renouncing yourself turned out to be harder that I thought. Every word of blessing addressed to our offender came as an effort of will. At the same time, words of indignation and annoyance were ready to surge like a gushing stream. And it would have been fair. This person really deserved them.
And the miracle happened. Indignation gave way to forgiveness and our souls were rewarded with the peace of God. No trace of resentment was left, and our prayers for this family grew stronger day after day. The precious feeling of righteousness and God’s approval filled us with pure pristine joy of heavenly Eden, we knew that we had won and fulfilled God’s will.
Many times I had read and heard the words from Scripture: “ Love your enemies…Bless those who curse you… Do good to those who hate you…” Thanks to the lost angel on one side of the scale and the law of forgiveness on the other, these verses came to life. Just as the stalks of plants, seemingly lifeless during hibernation, become covered with wonderful green leaves and blossom in the spring, the Word in our hearts, like a rainbow of life, appeared in a new light. We understood what it felt like to be participants of spiritual warfare. We didn’t know what would happen to this person later, but we knew that the enemy in our hearts had been defeated. I believe there are no prayers that are made in vain and the Lord will do what pleases Him in due time.
My friends, test the power of forgiveness. Don’t miss this opportunity if someone upsets you. Forgive them from the bottom of your heart. This will be a substantial step towards perfection, and you will feel how the grace and peace of God warm your soul and fill you with everlasting happiness that can’t be bought for all the gold in the world.
