At the Wellspring Ministries seminar that I attended (that I mentioned in an earlier post) was run in such a way that many of the participants were able to ask questions throughout the seminar, and most of these questions ended up with the speaker, Art Mathias, praying with them a forgiveness prayer for an offender for some offense. By FAR the most common ‘offender’ that came up was: parents.
I was surprised to see that, as well as sad. I was saddened to think of so many difficult childhoods.
Some of the offenses that I remember:
- several people were rejected by their parents because they were the ‘wrong’ sex (the parents wanted a boy, they got a girl, or vice versa)
- at least one person who was treated unkindly by their mother for being ‘just like’ the father that abandoned them
- at least one person who was given up for adoption
- at least one orphan
- most of the time it was rejection of some sort by the parents
- one lady was rescued from human trafficking that her parents sold her into
Sometimes I cried for and with these people. Rejection and abandonment can be so very painful. And I couldn’t even imagine the pain some of these people went through.
It was somehow nice, to feel like I was helping to combat their pain by joining in the prayers that would give them some healing. People were being healed of hurts during this seminar by forgiving their parents out loud. It was powerful.
Before this seminar, I had already forgiven my parents for some stuff, to a certain degree. I realized that my parents both had hardships in their lives, and I really don’t think they have had the opportunity to receive some good counseling and healing.
I believed that my parents were doing their best in raising me, even though they were hurtful to me in certain ways. So I thought that I had already forgiven them for everything.
But I think I was wrong, because it really seems like I actually was able to forgive my parents on a deeper level at this seminar. I must have had some baggage in my heart, because, as I mentioned before, that I actually felt something in my body, and I just felt lighter somehow, each time I forgave my parents for a newly remembered painful memory. I could feel that my heart was healing.
May our hearts all be healed of any hurts because of our parents,
Erica
