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The book, "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy" explores one community's ability to forgive after the Nickle Mine's School shooting on October 2, 2006. On that day, Charles Carl Roberts IV carried his guns and his rage into a small, Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania and shot 10 school girls.
The response from the Nickel Mines Amish community superseded the media coverage of that tragic incident. In the following few days, the Amish forgave the gunman and his family. Charles Roberts took 5 young girls lives that day and when the police entered the school house, he also took his own. At Robert's funeral, half of the mourners were Amish, some were even parents of the girls who had died.
Forgiveness is one of the main tenets of Christianity. Many Christians aim to forgive but many of us struggle to actually live forgiveness out. How could the Amish forgive so quickly when others of us outside of that community manage to hold on to things for months and sometimes even years?
There are many gifts from God to help us forgive. Some of us are able to forgive because we feel the forgiveness that Jesus Christ has for us. Some are able to forgive because we want to gain control of our lives from hurt emotions. Some forgive so we won’t become bitter and damage relationships with those around us.
Breakthrough is an effective tool on the road to forgiveness. The road that God invites us all to take. Forgiveness is the last step we take in a Breakthrough Session. We simply sit in forgiveness. We forgive ourselves for all that has been and we receive the forgiveness that God has always had for us. In the end, we are freed of our hurt, we are able to heal from painful situations and we no longer blame the other who triggered our over-reaction in the first place. We forgive.
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