Corrie Ten Boom was a hero of my faith. As a child I read her story and was amazed at her journey of faith. If you don't know her story, you can get some of it HERE.

She was a survivor of the World War Two death camps. But she was more than a survivor. She was a woman of great faith. She became a world-renown ambassador of God's forgiveness and the ministry of reconciliation. (If you haven't read The Hiding Place, you are missing out).

One of the stories of Corrie told was of a personal challenge to her theology of forgiveness and reconciliation. Following a message she delivered a man approached her, and she recognized him as one of the concentration camp guards that had brutalized her and her sister (her sister died in the camp). After the war, this on-time-prison-guard met the Lord and experienced the grace of God's forgiveness. He approached her wanting to shake her hand in reconciliation.

Boom described that moment saying in a moment, every painful think she experienced in the years in the camp flooded back into her mind and emotions. She couldn't forgive him. But in that moment, Corrie whispered a silent prayer: "Jesus, I cannot forgive this man. Grant me your power to forgive."

And then she slowly brought her hand to his. She later recounted, "From my shoulder, along my arm and through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while in my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost over-whelmed me."

That's the power of forgiveness.

That's the power of letting go.

It's really not about the offender. It's not about what they did.

It's about what your heart so desperately needs: to be set free.

Corrie, famously coined the term much later in life, "hold all things loosely".

That's a good word for all the offenses, disappointment, grudges, anger and thirst for vengeance.

When you hold all things loosely, God has a way of working in amazing ways.

My prayer for you this week, is that you would learn to let go.

Maybe this prayer will help you. You can fill in the blanks.

Father,

I am angry today at/because _____________________________________. Praying for __________________________ is nearly impossible. I am hurt because of what this person has done, but I don't want to live my life in bitterness. So today I lift _____________________________ before you and ask that you would change my heart. Help me to forgive. Help me to let go. Help me to be more and more like you.

In the name of the great one who forgives-Jesus, I pray.

Amen