As We Forgive

It is so easy to think that our anger is justified. We have been wronged. We have been hurt.

As We Forgive is a compilation of compelling stories of hope that arose following the unspeakable horrors of genocide that killed nearly a million souls during one hundred days of terror in Rwanda. As We Forgive reminds me what suffering and forgiveness and reconciliation really look like. I will never be righteous enough to justify unforgivness, or anger that holds on and on. Never.

A couple of quotes that stand out from As We Forgive-

And now as she sat there, she felt strangely at peace. The pain of the past was still there. It would never be gone completely. But as Joy had given God the shreds of her past, he had begun to weave those dark brown-black shreds of pain into something much bigger. There were large green swatches of growth, deep golden swatches of loving friendship, and bright blue swatches of hope. It was a patchwork quilt that looked something like the beautiful Rwandan countryside that now stretched out in front of her. Joy could feel God's love for her in the warmth of the morning sun, and in the beauty of the tapestry he was weaving from her life.
Catherine Claire Larson

Joy is where the whole being is pointed in one direction, and it is something by its nature a man never hoards but always wants to share... Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering. Even nailed to a tree.
Frederick Buechner