But then a friend gave her a CD of a teaching Father Rick Thomas had given on forgiveness. Her friend asked her, “Before you go through with the divorce listen to the CD.” Sally reluctantly agreed. She heard it and prayed along with Father Thomas as he led people through an exercise of forgiving those who have hurt us in our lives. When the teaching was over, Sally still did not think she could forgive Joe. But she followed Father's recommendation to pray the prayer for several days and she faithfully did all the steps. In the end she made the decision to forgive her husband, and she called off the divorce.
That was over a year ago. Since then Joe has stopped drinking. He now goes to church and even goes with his wife to a prayer group each week. They are doing great. “I’m amazed at the power of forgiveness,” Sally shared. “I had no idea all these other things would happen when I made the decision to forgive my husband. I am so grateful to God. My husband and I are very happy together, and we have a beautiful marriage now. To think what I would have missed if I had gone through with the divorce.”
Not only that, Sally has shared copies of the forgiveness CD with several other people. Two couples who were thinking of getting a divorce have cancelled those plans, been reconciled and are enjoying happy marriages today.
Father Rick Thomas did a lot of marriage counseling when he was alive and always had a heart to help couples. We’re glad to know that his teachings are still helping to save marriages.
* Names have been changed to protect their privacy.