Participants:
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC202122S
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00:45 >> Welcome to It Is Written
00:46 Canada. 00:47 Thank you for joining us in 00:49 beautiful Kelowna, British 00:50 Columbia. 00:51 Our special guest again is Don 00:53 Straub, a practising clinical 00:56 counsellor who helps people 00:58 struggling with everyday 01:00 problems by giving them 01:01 powerful, practical solutions. 01:04 >> Don is going to look at how 01:07 to let go of deep hurt. 01:10 Don, welcome again to It Is 01:12 Written Canada. 01:13 >> Thank you very much. 01:15 >> Don, talk to us about deep 01:17 hurt and forgiveness. 01:20 >> Most of us have experienced 01:22 deep hurt at some time in our 01:24 life, we maybe have been 01:26 betrayed, lied to, cheated on, 01:28 sexually molested, maybe 01:31 ripped off financially. 01:34 It's difficult and sometimes 01:37 these deep hurts come at the 01:40 hands of people that we trust 01:41 and love the most like a 01:43 parent or a partner or a 01:45 sibling, sometimes even a 01:47 church leader. 01:48 When I was pastoring, I found 01:50 that there was so many people 01:52 that would come and they would 01:53 leave the church because of 01:55 some deep hurt by someone else 01:56 in the church. 01:57 These are always difficult 01:58 things to deal with and 02:00 getting people to forgive. 02:03 >> Don, have you had any 02:06 personal experiences in your 02:08 life of deep hurt and found it 02:10 difficult to forgive? 02:13 >> I think, fortunately, I 02:14 haven't had too many deep hurt 02:16 experiences in my lifetime 02:18 until I did have one. 02:20 So until then I found it quite 02:22 easy, quite natural to forgive 02:24 but when I was really deeply 02:25 hurt at one time in my life 02:27 which I'm not gonna go into 02:28 today, it's in my book, I had 02:30 extremely difficult time 02:32 forgiving, in fact it wasn't 02:34 until I was taking my masters 02:36 degree in clinical counselling 02:38 that I researched my way into 02:40 forgiveness for these people 02:43 because in that study, the 02:45 things that I studied, I came 02:47 across some really interesting 02:48 things about forgiveness and 02:49 what it is. 02:51 And so now as a counsellor I 02:53 have a lot more empathy than I 02:54 did as a pastor towards people 02:56 that find it impossible to 02:57 forgive and now as a 02:59 counsellor I help them to 03:00 forgive because it actually is 03:03 the cure to many of the mental 03:05 illnesses such as depression 03:06 and anxiety and even bulimia 03:07 and anorexia. 03:10 >> Isn't it just a simple 03:13 decision that we make? 03:14 I mean, the Bible tells us to 03:15 forgive so it's kind of a 03:17 command so we make the choice 03:18 and then we forgive. 03:20 [DON] It is a choice, but what 03:22 I learned was it's not that 03:23 one-step choice that so many 03:25 of us as Christians think. 03:27 It's actually a process, it's 03:28 a journey, it's a process of 03:30 letting go and it's a-- it 03:32 takes sometimes years to 03:35 finally get towards the end of 03:37 that process. 03:38 We're not God, we're not 03:39 perfect, we don't perfectly 03:40 forgive and just 03:41 instantaneously. 03:42 It is a process, often a 03:44 life-long process. 03:47 >> Why is it so difficult for 03:48 some people to forgive? 03:51 >> The reason, I believe, is 03:52 because of a lack of 03:54 information, a lack of what 03:56 forgiveness is and what 03:58 forgiveness is not 03:59 can be confusing. 04:01 I learned about forgiveness in 04:03 a deeper way through a 04:05 psychologist by the name of 04:06 Robert Enright. 04:08 Enright, who was around in the 04:10 70's doing research on 04:12 forgiveness, started this 04:14 process, he even founded the 04:16 International Forgiveness 04:19 Organization, which actually 04:21 has annual conferences, if you 04:22 can believe it. 04:23 I think a little bit of 04:25 history would be helpful here 04:26 because there seems to be, and 04:28 has been historically, kind of 04:30 a rift between religion 04:32 and psychology. 04:33 It's because when psychology 04:35 started, it started by people 04:37 by Sigmund Freud and these 04:39 early psychologists were very 04:41 anti-religion, they would say 04:43 that religion was the cause of 04:45 almost all mental illnesses. 04:47 And so, obviously, Christians 04:49 distanced themselves from the 04:51 world of psychology. 04:52 But somewhere in the early 04:54 70's, psychology became more 04:57 of a science, like the other 04:58 sciences, in which people 05:01 would do double-blind studies 05:03 to see exactly what did help 05:05 people and what didn't help 05:07 people, right? 05:08 And that's where Enright came 05:10 into play during the 70's. 05:12 And during those years, they 05:14 did some research and 05:16 discovered this: that those 05:18 people who believe in an 05:20 accepting, loving, 05:22 non-judgmental God had the 05:25 least amount of mental illness 05:27 and get this: those people who 05:30 believed in a judgmental, 05:32 vindictive, angry God had the 05:34 highest rate of mental illness, 05:38 even higher than people who 05:39 did not believe in God at all. 05:41 >> So it's really important 05:43 for us to have a clear picture 05:45 and understanding about the 05:46 character of God. 05:48 [DON] And that's what I love 05:49 to share with people wherever 05:50 I can. 05:52 So Enright went on and he 05:54 developed some scientific ways 05:57 of studying forgiveness. 05:59 I'm not gonna go into detail 06:01 here, I do more in my book, 06:03 but basically when you do 06:04 scientific studies, you have 06:05 to have what we call an 06:07 "operational definition," 06:08 that way you can measure 06:10 forgiveness. 06:11 So we had to come up with a 06:12 definition of forgiveness that 06:13 could be measured. 06:15 To keep it short, basically he 06:17 measures forgiveness through a 06:19 person's thoughts, feelings, 06:21 and behaviours towards the 06:23 person that injured them. 06:24 And by putting this into a 06:26 numerical system he can 06:28 measure forgiveness before 06:30 therapy and after therapy. 06:33 I do this with a lot of my 06:34 clients, I will measure their 06:36 level of forgiveness using 06:37 Enright's instrument before we 06:39 do the therapy and then after 06:41 the therapy, do it again, and 06:43 their forgiveness goes up and 06:45 their mental health issues 06:46 go down. 06:48 So it's quite amazing, 06:50 quite scientific. 06:52 You need to know that most of 06:54 my clients do not come to me 06:57 with a Christian background or 06:59 any faith at all and yet at 07:02 the same time, I can use 07:05 forgiveness therapy. 07:07 Enright discovered that every 07:10 world religion has the concept 07:11 of forgiveness and even 07:13 atheists kind of understand 07:14 the concept. 07:16 So I can teach forgiveness 07:18 even to atheists. 07:20 Now it's really helpful when I 07:22 have Christian clients because 07:24 then I can draw on the 07:25 examples of Jesus who is the 07:27 ultimate Forgiver and how He's 07:28 forgiven us. 07:30 But with others, I don't have 07:31 that advantage, but I can 07:33 still help people forgive and 07:34 through that process find 07:36 healing with their problems. 07:38 >> So, Don, what is Enright's 07:40 definition of forgiveness? 07:43 >> I'm gonna read that from my 07:45 book here 'cause it's a very 07:47 technical definition. 07:49 Enright basically says it this 07:51 way: "Forgiveness is a" 08:17 >> Whoa, that's a lot to take 08:19 in, Don, I wonder if you could 08:21 please break that down for us? 08:23 [DON] It is a lot, so let's 08:25 kinda take it like this: 08:26 it's a willingness and that 08:28 comes back to the idea that 08:29 it's a choice. 08:31 It's our free choice to 08:32 forgive or not. 08:35 What we're doing is we're 08:37 choosing to let go of anger, 08:40 resentment, judgment, all of 08:44 this stuff, even though we 08:47 have a right to be angry. 08:49 Remember anger is an 08:51 appropriate emotion when 08:52 there's an injustice. 08:54 The problem with that is that 08:56 it's an action signal to 08:58 protect yourself or those you 08:59 love in the moment, but years 09:01 later it serves no purpose 09:03 anymore. 09:04 So even though we have a right 09:06 to be angry, we choose to let 09:07 go of our anger towards the 09:09 person that injured us and 09:11 then that's only half way. 09:13 The other half says, "And move" 09:15 "towards love, compassion," 09:19 "generosity to this person" 09:21 "even though they don't" 09:22 "deserve it." 09:24 And when I think about that, 09:26 isn't that kind of what God's 09:27 forgiveness is? 09:29 Really, He has a right to be 09:31 angry, there's an injustice, 09:32 right? 09:33 It's very normal, it's very 09:34 natural to-- it's appropriate 09:36 to be angered at injustice, 09:38 but He chooses to move from 09:41 His anger towards forgiveness, 09:44 love, and compassion. 09:45 But God does it naturally and 09:48 freely, spontaneously even, 09:50 'cause that's His character. 09:52 I use a metaphor. 09:53 Let's say that over here on 09:55 this side of the street is a 09:58 house and this is the house of 10:00 anger and bitterness and 10:02 resentment and rumination and 10:04 revenge, thoughts of revenge, 10:06 and this is where I'm living. 10:08 I'm living in this house and 10:10 it's not a comfortable, fun 10:12 place to live, it's a very 10:14 painful place to live. 10:16 On this side of the street is 10:18 another house. 10:19 It is a house of love and 10:21 compassion, generosity, this 10:24 is a beautiful place to live, 10:25 a wonderful place to live. 10:28 If I choose to live in this 10:29 house then this is my choice 10:31 to live with this pain, but I 10:33 can choose to move from this 10:35 house into this house. 10:38 But like anybody who knows, 10:40 when they move houses it's not 10:41 a [snap] snap your fingers. 10:42 Wouldn't it be nice? 10:44 Pictures on the walls, 10:45 everything in the cupboards, 10:46 [snaps fingers] just like that. 10:47 It doesn't work that way. 10:48 I move into this house one box 10:50 at a time, maybe one piece of 10:51 furniture at a time. 10:53 Maybe sometimes those boxes 10:54 don't make it all the way 10:56 there, maybe they end up in 10:57 the middle of the street. 10:58 The street represents a 11:00 neutral place; I'm not angry, 11:02 but I'm not really loving or 11:03 compassionate either, right? 11:05 The ultimate thing of 11:07 forgiveness is to move from 11:09 this place completely to 11:10 this place. 11:11 Now, like I said, that is a 11:12 process, sometimes a life-long 11:14 process, but it's a wonderful 11:16 process. 11:17 But here's the truth: I have 11:20 the key to that house, the key 11:23 that unlocks my prison, sets 11:26 me free and opens up this 11:29 house, forgiveness is that key 11:32 that I hold. 11:35 >> But, Don, don't you have to 11:36 tell the person that you are 11:38 forgiving that you have 11:40 forgiven them? 11:42 [DON] No, you don't really, 11:43 because it's not about that 11:44 person, it's about yourself, 11:46 you're the one carrying the 11:48 pain, you're the one letting 11:49 go of the hurt and the pain. 11:51 This person might be dead, 11:52 they might be living somewhere 11:54 that you can't even find them, 11:55 they may not even think 11:57 they've hurt you or they may 11:58 be glad that they've hurt you. 12:00 So it's about you letting go 12:02 of your own pain, releasing 12:04 yourself from your own prison. 12:06 This is where I think we need 12:07 to talk about what forgiveness 12:08 is not now that we've looked 12:10 at what it is, moving from 12:11 anger to love, what is it not? 12:14 Number one, it's not 12:15 forgetting, you know, people 12:17 say, "Forgive and forget." 12:18 You can't forget, 12:19 that's impossible. 12:20 Number two, forgiveness does 12:22 not condone, excuse, justify, 12:25 to say it's OK, not at all. 12:27 If it was excusable or 12:29 justifiable, you wouldn't 12:30 need to forgive. 12:32 The next thing is forgiveness 12:34 does not mean you can't have 12:36 justice. 12:37 Absolutely, if someone has 12:39 raped somebody, there needs to 12:41 be justice, we need to keep 12:42 this person away from society 12:44 so they don't go hurting 12:45 someone else. 12:47 You see, sometimes we can have 12:48 forgiveness and justice, 12:51 sometimes we can have 12:52 forgiveness and mercy. 12:54 So mercy does not always have 12:56 to go hand-in-hand with 12:57 forgiveness. 12:58 Now, with God it seems to go 12:59 hand-in-hand, He has 13:01 forgiveness and mercy for us. 13:04 Forgiveness is also not 13:06 trusting, that's a whole 13:08 different process. 13:09 Some people can't be trusted. 13:13 Some people are too dangerous, 13:15 too toxic to trust, you have 13:16 to earn trust, trust has to be 13:18 earned so you don't have to 13:19 rush back and start trusting 13:20 this person. 13:21 No, you don't. 13:22 They have to earn that and 13:23 that takes experience over 13:24 time and that may never 13:26 even happen. 13:27 And the last thing is that 13:28 forgiveness is not 13:29 reconciliation. 13:31 Now reconciliation is a 13:33 wonderful thing, it's another 13:36 thing though, it's separate 13:38 from forgiveness. 13:39 In fact, before you can 13:40 reconcile, forgiveness has to 13:42 be the first step. 13:44 But reconciliation may not 13:45 happen because some people are 13:47 too dangerous, too toxic to 13:49 build a relationship with, 13:51 some people don't wanna have 13:53 reconciliation. 13:54 It takes two people working 13:56 together to work on this 13:59 reconciliation process. 14:02 [RENÉ] So, Don, is there 14:04 anything more that you can 14:05 tell us about you as a 14:07 counsellor facilitate this 14:10 whole process of forgiveness 14:12 with your clients? 14:14 >> Yes, you see, there's a 14:15 whole lot more to forgiveness 14:16 than just the simple act 14:18 of forgiving. 14:19 Remember we're talking today 14:20 about deep hurt. 14:24 So what-- it's complicated 14:26 because when people are hurt 14:28 that means they've been 14:29 possibly deeply traumatized. 14:32 And like in previous episodes 14:34 I've talked about how core 14:36 wounds are the root of all the 14:39 shame and the anger and are 14:43 self-defeating behaviours or 14:45 sins, right? 14:46 So I want to heal the 14:47 whole person. 14:49 And so I titled that iceberg 14:51 model, like, it's in my book, 14:52 it's titled, "Freedom Through" 14:54 "Forgiveness" because 14:56 forgiveness has to do with 14:58 dealing with the trauma, also 15:01 dealing with the negative 15:02 beliefs that we come to 15:03 believe about ourselves, the 15:05 lies that we come to believe 15:06 about ourselves due to this 15:07 act of trauma, and the shame 15:10 that we carry, letting go of 15:12 that shame, so it's a process. 15:14 So we have-- as a trauma 15:16 counsellor, I have some very 15:19 special therapies that I use 15:20 to heal trauma. 15:22 And then of course that 15:24 therapy actually changes a 15:26 person's feeling belief 15:28 simultaneously. 15:30 Like I said, I had very much 15:32 difficulty forgiving some 15:33 people that hurt me deeply. 15:35 And intellectually and the 15:37 best I could up here, I did 15:39 forgive and let go of my anger. 15:44 However, in addition to that 15:48 part of the hurt, I carried 15:51 this trauma in my body. 15:53 So if I would meet one of 15:55 these people or go into a 15:56 building where they were also 15:58 there, my heart would race, 16:01 and I would get triggered and 16:03 I would feel pain in my body, 16:05 it's that memory playing in my 16:07 body, I couldn't get rid 16:08 of that. 16:09 Well, someone told me about 16:11 trauma therapy and a 16:12 counsellor here in Kelowna 16:14 that could help me and I went 16:15 to that person and within 16:17 minutes it was gone. 16:19 And I said to myself, "Don," 16:21 "you gotta get trained in" 16:23 "this type of therapy," and 16:24 four years later I was able to 16:25 get the training, but it was 16:27 an amazing-- it was just 16:29 amazing to not just forgive, 16:30 but to lose that pain in my 16:33 body, that trauma pain. 16:36 I think a little illustration 16:37 might be a little better for 16:38 people to understand. 16:40 Like, let's just say that I am 16:43 in a car accident and the car 16:45 accident was caused by another 16:47 person who broke some rules of 16:50 driving, it was their fault, 16:52 so to speak. 16:53 And let's say that during this 16:56 accident I injured my back 16:58 and I have now a permanent 17:00 back pain. 17:03 So the first thing might be to 17:05 forgive this person, but that 17:06 might be extremely difficult 17:08 to do. 17:09 I'm suffering the consequences 17:12 of this person's act. 17:14 So-- but I teach and I help my 17:17 clients to forgive, but in 17:19 addition to that, there's the 17:21 back pain. 17:22 That I can't help with. 17:23 Most of the time, that's 17:25 something that the doctors and 17:27 other professionals work with. 17:28 But as a counsellor 17:30 professional, I can work with 17:31 another aspect. 17:33 Let's say not only do I have 17:34 the back pain from that 17:36 accident, but now I have a 17:37 fear of driving in a car, it's 17:39 just too much for me to get 17:41 into a car, my heart races, I 17:43 sweat, I hang on for dear 17:45 life, it is painful to ride in 17:47 a moving vehicle because of 17:48 that trauma. 17:50 Well, this special trauma 17:52 therapy that I can put people 17:53 through erases those feelings, 17:56 basically neutralizes them, 17:58 and people can ride in a car 18:00 again and not feel that way. 18:02 So it's more complicated than 18:03 just forgiving when it comes 18:04 to counselling and trauma and 18:06 hurt, deep hurt. 18:08 >> Don, we are told that God 18:12 forgives us. 18:15 How come it's so difficult 18:17 for some people to really 18:20 believe that? 18:23 >> It is true, you know, we 18:25 can even know in our heads 18:27 that God forgives us, but in 18:30 our hearts, we can't forgive 18:32 ourselves. 18:35 Until I came across that in my 18:37 research taking my masters in 18:38 counselling, I never thought 18:40 about self-forgiveness, I 18:41 never thought it was a thing. 18:44 But it is a thing and the 18:46 whole idea works like this: 18:49 if someone hurts me, I become 18:50 angry at them for what they 18:52 did to me and my forgiveness 18:54 lets go of my anger towards 18:56 them and now I'm free of that 18:59 anger and I have love and 19:00 generosity for this person as 19:02 a child of God. 19:03 But what happens when I 19:06 hurt somebody? 19:08 I know God forgives me, but I 19:10 can't forgive myself. 19:12 So what am I doing? 19:13 I am carrying all this anger 19:15 towards myself day in and day 19:19 out, and that anger is eating 19:20 me up, it's causing me 19:22 depression and anxiety, it's 19:24 causing me to be angry at 19:25 other people 'cause this 19:27 spills out on other people, 19:28 it's toxic, this stuff. 19:30 So I need to let go of my own 19:32 anger towards myself and 19:35 that's self-forgiveness, you 19:37 see, and that's often 19:38 something that people have 19:39 never thought of and they-- I 19:41 find that people have the 19:42 hardest time forgiving 19:44 themselves than anything else. 19:48 When I was in my early college 19:49 years, I had this huge 19:52 spiritual experience and what 19:54 really helped me solidify that 19:56 spiritual experience was a 19:58 pastor, Morris Venden, who has 19:59 passed away now, he came to 20:01 our college campus and he did 20:02 a series of meetings. 20:03 In those meetings, I clearly 20:05 remember a parable that he 20:07 told, I keep using it with 20:08 people over and over again 20:10 through the years. 20:11 He called it "The Parable of" 20:13 "the Cadillacs," but, you know, 20:15 I prefer Tesla, I will never 20:17 be able to afford one, and I 20:19 know they're not sold in car 20:20 dealerships, but I'm gonna 20:22 use the word, "Tesla." 20:24 So let's just say that one day 20:26 I'm reading the newspaper and 20:27 there's an advertisement and 20:29 it says, "Five free Tesla" 20:32 "will be given away to the" 20:33 "first five people through" 20:35 "our doors Monday morning." 20:37 And I go, "Wow!" 20:38 So I take my sleeping bag and 20:40 I go down to the dealership 20:42 early in the afternoon the day 20:43 before and I plant myself at 20:45 the front door. 20:47 Next morning I'm awake and I'm 20:49 the first one to go through 20:50 that door and my Tesla is in 20:52 my hands. 20:54 And then I start looking at 20:55 who the other four people are 20:57 that are gonna get a free 20:59 Tesla and low and behold I 21:00 know these people. 21:02 Whoa, there's some real 21:04 hypocrites, terrible 21:05 hypocrites in the community 21:07 and I start thinking about 21:08 those hypocrites and the 21:10 angrier I get, the more I 21:11 think about them the angrier I 21:13 get and I say, "If that's the" 21:14 "kind of people they're gonna" 21:16 "give a free Tesla to, I don't" 21:17 "want one," and I pick up my 21:18 sleeping bag and go home. 21:22 And I'm sad to say that's how 21:23 some people do it. 21:25 They focus on the hypocrites 21:27 in the church and they focus 21:29 on them so much they just say, 21:31 "Well, if that's the kind of" 21:32 "people that go to this" 21:33 "church, I'm not coming," and 21:35 I pack up and go home. 21:36 And, unfortunately, under the 21:38 same breath they often say not 21:39 just "Goodbye, church," but 21:41 "Goodbye, God." 21:44 Don't let the hypocrites keep 21:46 you away from God. 21:47 That's the message. 21:48 Don't let them keep you away 21:50 from God. 21:51 I like to think of the church 21:53 as a hospital for sick people 21:55 and if we can keep that 21:56 perspective in mind, 21:58 things can go better. 22:02 >> What about God? 22:04 Didn't Jesus reconcile us to 22:06 God on the cross? 22:09 >> Well, let's look at it this 22:10 way: both the life of Jesus 22:13 and the death of Jesus were 22:16 God's initiation or steps 22:19 towards reconciliation. 22:22 He did everything He could 22:25 to set the stage for 22:26 reconciliation. 22:28 But remember, reconciliation 22:30 requires two and so now it's 22:33 my part, I need to respond to 22:36 that invitation, God wants to 22:38 be my friend, it's my role now 22:40 to be reconciled to God, 22:43 accept His forgiveness, accept 22:44 His grace, and accept that 22:47 wonderful friendship that He 22:49 wants with me. 22:50 As we've always been saying, 22:52 God has chosen to run His 22:54 universe on the law of freedom 22:56 and love and the result of 22:58 freedom has been a lot of pain 23:00 in this world, a lot of 23:01 suffering. 23:03 And what I see the cross as is 23:05 where God takes responsibility 23:07 for the sin in this world. 23:10 The cross teaches us three 23:13 things; number one: sin kills. 23:17 It's the natural consequence 23:19 of sin, we die due to sin. 23:24 Number two: God loves us. 23:27 He loves us infinitely, more 23:29 than we can imagine; 23:31 "For God so loved the world" 23:32 "that He gave..." 23:34 And three: the cross teaches 23:36 us our value and our worth. 23:39 We are worth the life and the 23:41 death of God Himself. 23:44 That's how He values us. 23:48 Now comes reconciliation. 23:51 Remember the life and the 23:53 death of Jesus was His way of 23:58 initiating this process of 24:00 friendship and reconciliation. 24:03 Now it's our choice, it takes 24:06 two, our choice to enter into 24:09 this friendship, to accept His 24:10 salvation, to accept His 24:11 friendship in this 24:13 relationship. 24:15 You know, theologians have had 24:18 arguments for years over a 24:19 single word in the Bible, one 24:21 word, it's only found in one 24:22 place and it's the word, 24:23 "atonement." 24:25 And it's really not that hard 24:27 to understand. 24:29 The spelling is: AT-ONE-MENT. 24:34 Atonement is God's design for 24:37 us to be at one with Him 24:40 again, to be reconciled, 24:41 to be at one. 24:44 And this is what He says in my 24:47 favourite verse in the Bible... 24:56 Being one with God, being His 24:58 friend is His heart's desire 24:59 for us. 25:01 Let's make the illustration 25:03 this way, let's say that my 25:04 arms are full of firewood, 25:07 right up to my chin and I'm 25:09 struggling and along comes God 25:11 and He says, "Don, I wanna" 25:13 "give you something." 25:15 Now this firewood represents 25:17 my anger, my bitterness, my 25:19 rumination towards this 25:21 person, my thoughts of revenge 25:23 and says, God says, "Don," 25:26 "drop the load 'cause I can't" 25:27 "give you peace and joy" 25:29 "and freedom." 25:31 He's commanding me to drop the 25:33 load so He can give me this 25:34 other stuff, this better stuff. 25:36 That's how I see God. 25:38 He's a God of freedom and love. 25:41 >> That's so beautiful. 25:43 Just to close on that note 25:45 that His commandment is to 25:48 give us something better, let 25:50 go of what you're holding onto. 25:53 >> And we hold the key. 25:54 It's called forgiveness. 25:57 >> Don, before we end, I 25:58 wonder if you could have a 25:59 word of prayer? 26:01 [DON] Sure. 26:03 Father God, I wanna thank You 26:06 for Your gift of forgiveness. 26:09 So many of us don't see it as 26:10 a gift because it seems so 26:12 hard to do and so painful. 26:15 But help us to understand this 26:16 process as we go through life 26:18 and to just let go and to find 26:20 that peace and joy that You 26:22 want to fill our hands with 26:24 and our lives with. 26:25 I pray all these things in 26:26 Jesus' name, amen. 26:30 >> Don, thank you so much for 26:31 sharing with us on It Is 26:33 Written Canada today. 26:35 >> You're very welcome. 26:36 Thank you. 26:39 >> Friends, forgiveness is a 26:41 willingness to abandon your 26:43 right to resentment, negative 26:45 judgment and indifferent 26:47 behaviour towards one who has 26:49 unjustly injured you while 26:52 fostering the undeserved 26:54 qualities of compassion, 26:56 generosity, and even love 26:58 toward him or her. 27:00 >> That is a very tall order 27:03 and we want to give you a 27:04 chance to learn more about how 27:07 forgiveness is possible by 27:09 sending you our free offer 27:10 today which is Don Straub's 27:12 book entitled, Bridges to 27:15 Freedom: Creating Change 27:17 Through Science and Christian 27:19 Spirituality. 27:20 >> You can move closer to the 27:22 Lord, get past your hurts and 27:24 learn life lessons with the 27:27 essential bridges to freedom 27:28 described in this book. 27:32 [MIKE] Before you go, we would 27:34 also like to invite you to 27:35 follow us on Instagram and 27:36 Facebook and subscribe to our 27:38 YouTube channel and also 27:40 listen to our Podcasts. 27:43 And if you go to our website, 27:45 you can see our latest 27:46 programs including our cooking 27:47 demonstrations, our short, 27:49 spiritual messages entitled, 27:51 Daily Living, and our exercise 27:53 workouts called, 27:55 Experiencing Life. 27:58 >> We want you to experience 28:00 the truth found in the words 28:01 of Jesus when He said, "It is" 28:04 "written, man shall not live" 28:06 "by bread alone, but by every" 28:09 "word that proceeds out of" 28:10 "the mouth of God." 28:12 ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-02-24