On July 5th, I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda for 8 days. During this trip I was truly blessed. I went over with the team at Victory World Missions, Pastors Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty. I was able to minister in the prisons and at one of the pastor / leader conferences.
This was truly an experience. But in light of the genocide that occured in Rwanda, the 800,000+ people who lost their lives in the genocide over cultural / physical trait differences, I was most moved by the testimony of a young girl who had said that when her family was killed, she was 3 years old. But she encouraged those in attendance at the crusade to forgive those who had done this great tragedy.
It made me think about myself. I just could not imagine myself in a situation where my entire family is taken and years later I have to ask everyone who had found themselves in that same situation as me to forgive those who had done them wrong. But I had to think again about how gracious Jesus Christ had been when He asked the Father to forgive them for they did not know what they had done. I must exercise this same forgiveness in my life. I know it is very hard to forgive but if Jesus could do it, if this little girl could do it, then I know that because of my faith in Jesus Christ, I can do it.
So what about you? Is there someone you need to forgive today but you have been holding on to grudges. I encourage you today to put those things behind you and press for the mark of a higher calling. It’s time to forgive.
Again, Rwanda was truly an experience for me. May God continue to bless you.
Pastor Thad
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Hi Pastor Thad,
My names are Fred Ngabirano, a Rwandese by nationality and a 1st year student at VBI. Am in Rwanda at the moment and i had to come over here to welcome you people in our home. The rwanda that you saw is my home, many people did loose their beloved ones and sincerely if we could not forgive those who did genociide then we would not be living in the peace that you saw.
We have to show the difference by loving those who commited those crimes.
Thank you for coming here and many god bless you for your advice to others on forgiveness.
Fred, thanks for your comment. As I mentioned in my post, this was truly an experience for me. I am interested in finding out how other Rwandese have fared since the genocide. Please send emails to family and friends and ask them to go out to this site “http://sg081236.wordpress.com and post to this site. May God continue to bless you. Pastor Thad.