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.

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"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."

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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