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Choosing Forgiveness as an Act of Courage

By Patsy Burnette

God's Brave Women - Patsy's Story


There I sat, on a bench outside the courtroom. I said, “I forgive you.

I said it to the man who sat at the other end of the bench. Even though I didn’t say it out loud, I said it to myself, in my mind and my heart. I said it, and I meant it. That was the day I chose forgiveness over bitterness.

It certainly would have been easy for me to become bitter when the decision was handed down. Instead, I chose mercy and I also chose to praise God! Bravely, I praised God that my sister was the one who was killed and not the one who killed. I would rather her be dead than to have to live the rest of her life facing the fact that she had killed someone.

It wasn’t easy – the choice to be brave and forgive. But Jesus made it possible.


 

"I praised God that my sister was the one who was killed and not the one who killed... It wasn’t easy – the choice to be brave and forgive. But Jesus made it possible."

 

I could have allowed a root of bitterness to spring up for so many reasons, other than the hard fact that my sister was taken from us at such a young age.

I could have been bitter because s