Extending Genuine
Forgiveness is Possible
With the grace and
empowerment of Almighty God, extending genuine forgiveness towards persons who
harmed us is possible. Recently, I read
the incredible story of Herman Black’s forgiveness of a crack addict who
murdered Black’s daughter. The youngest
of his four girls, this young woman worked tirelessly as a social worker to assist
alcoholics, addicts and homeless persons to recover from their enslavement to
chemical substances and find a new freedom and life. After graduating from college, this woman
returned to the town where she grew up.
She chose social work as a profession, in gratitude for her adoption by
Black and his wife who rescued her from a crack-addicted mother. As a little girl, she went to school unkempt,
unclean, smelly and unfed. The Blacks
adopted her and treated her as if she were their natural child; her siblings
followed their parents’ example.
This woman desired to
help people who suffered as miserably as her birth mother did. In her studies and clinical internships, she
presumably found the wherewithal to forgive her mother and understand the depth
of her brokenness. The mother’s
inability to care properly for the daughter stemmed from her inherent character
defects borne of her addiction.
Essentially, she was not a sinful and bad person who refused to make
better choices. Her brokenness prevented
her better self from being the loving and faithful mother she desired to
be. Nonetheless, Black’s daughter
demonstrated her forgiveness and grateful in her work as a social worker,
seeking to help broken people find the internal resources to recover and repair
their lives. It is terribly and
inexplicably ironic that she would lose her life at the hands of someone whom
she committed to helping. This crack
addict broke into her house one night, forced her to give him the code to her
ATM card, and stole other money and valuables she had. He left to get drugs and satisfy his
insatiable craving. Within hours, he
returned to her house. Fearing she would
identify him, he killed her after sexually assaulting her.
Not surprisingly, the
residents of the town expressed universal outrage and condemnation of the
perpetrators deeds. They cried aloud for
the maximum possible sentence even the death penalty were it an option. To the
chagrin of some of the townsfolks and absolute amazement of other residents,
Herman Black attended the defendant’s sentencing hearing to ask the judge for
leniency. Looking upon the frightened,
broken, misguided and hapless young man who took his daughter’s life, Black
affirmatively told the court that he believed the young defendant possessed the
potential of redemption. Instead of the
maximum sentence, Black asked the judge to allow the defendant some possibility
of life after serving a reasonable amount of time to remit the debt of his
crime.
Flabbergasted by Black’s
magnanimous request and act of forgiveness, a reporter for the local paper
asked Black how he could make such a request.
Black expressed his disgust for the defendant’s ingratitude and
dastardly deeds. He understood and
shared the community’s rage toward the murderer. However, as a committed Christian endeavoring
to live with integrity, Black asked the Lord to give him the divine strength,
spiritual power and personal willingness to forgive his daughter’s murderer as
Black believed he ought to do so.
Summarily, Herman
Black’s disturbing ordeal reveals that genuine forgiveness is indeed possible
with God’s grace and strength. Should
you experience any difficulty in forgiving anyone who harmed you, ask Almighty
God for humility, honesty, open mindedness, willingness, and strength and
desire to forgive.
