Heart Sisters Book Club:Chapter 5

If you are just joining us for the Heart Sisters: Be the Friend You Want to Have Book Club (book by Natalie Chambers Snapp), please click HERE to begin at Chapter One.

Chapter 5 of Natalie ’s book is all about forgiveness. A very suitable follow up for last week's chapter on conflict. In this day and age it is hard to find a person who values forgiving others. We live in a you-get-what-you-give kind of world and even among Christians this mentality is evident. Natalie brings up the parable in Matthew of the man who was forgiven of his debt by the king only to imprison another man for a much smaller debt.  Through this story she brings up the very valuable point that Christ makes. If we can not choose to forgive the small stuff here on earth then we cannot and should not expect our Heavenly Father to apply forgiveness to our own lives.

I Love this quote from Natalie that really just grasps how much of a foreign concept forgiveness is.

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"When we forgive the unthinkable, it’s such a foreign concept to the world that the forgiver is often asked to be interviewed and appear in talk shows. It is actually newsworthy to forgive someone of something so heinous in a world that views forgiveness as a weakness. The mother who forgives the drunk driver for killing her child. The father who forgives his daughter’s molester. The woman who forgives her rapist. Incomprehensible, right? Yet these people have discovered that to allow their perpetrator to hold them in chains, they become victims not once, but twice."

Forgoveness is almost unfathomable today and yet we as Christians are given a directive to forgive. I think of all of the things that Natalie mentions, I took away 3 main reasons to forgive:

• One, we forgive because Christ first forgave us and how can we expect to receive that gift if we aren't willing to give it to others who owe us much less than we owe Jesus.

• Two, we forgive because this may be one of the most effective ways to shine our light. People stop what they are doing and take notice when someone forgives another for something that seems unforgivable. This might be the only chance some have to see Jesus. So we must be sure we take advantage of every opportunity. 
• Finally, the third reason is to give ourselves an opportunity at freedom. Holding onyto a fiery ball of anger doesn't burn the person we are angry at. It only burns us. We can choose to move beyond the offense and forgive or we can hold onto it and become our own victimizer.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT A FEW QUESTIONS THAT NATALIE PROVIDED TO HELP US DIG A LITTLE DEEPER INTO FORGIVENESS. FEEL FREE TO ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

1. 1. Have you ever struggled with forgiveness? Have you experi- enced bitterness or resentment from a lack of forgiveness?
   
   
2. 2. Reflect upon Anne Lamott’s quote “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.” What do you think this means? Have you been waiting for the rat to die after drinking the poison yourself?
   
   
3. 3. What is your favorite scripture on forgiveness?
   
   
4. 4. Have you ever prayed for someone who has persecuted you? Describe your experience.
   
   
5. 5. Have you experienced the freedom that comes from forgive- ness? If so, what do you think are the benefits of forgiving? 
   

Written by Lindsey.