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THE POWER OF PRAYER and FORGIVENESS. . .

Prayer

POWER IN THE NAME

A father was driving through an intersection
one day and his little three or four year old
son was in the car with him. The car door flew
open, and the little boy rolled out of the vehicle
right into the middle of traffic coming from four
ways!  The last thing the father saw was a set of
car wheels just  about on top of his son moving at
a vary fast rate of speed.  All he knew to do was
cry, "JESUS!"

As soon as he could bring his car to a halt, he
jumped out ran to his son, who was perfectly all
right.  But the man driving the car that had
almost hit the child was absolutely hysterical.  The father
went over to him and started trying to comfort him...
Man, don't be upset," he said.  "My son is all
right, he's okay.  Don't be concerned about it.  Just
thank God you were able to stop"!  "You don't understand"!
the man responded.

"I never touched my brakes"!

Oh, the power in a name ...............

--Author Unknown

Forgiveness . . .

One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear
plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person
we'd refuse to forgive in our life experience, we
were told to choose a potato, write on it the name
and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our
bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.

We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere
for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on
the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.

The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear
what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we
had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget,
and keep leaving it in embarrassing places.

Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated
to a nasty slime. This was a great metaphor for the
price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!
Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the
other person, and it clearly is for ourselves!!

So the next time you decide you can't forgive someone, ask yourself ...
isn't your bag heavy enough?

--Author Unknown