Emphasis Preaching Journal

George and Mary were married for thirty years. Their children were grown up and were starting families of their own. George and Mary both had good jobs, they cared for each other, and they were well thought of by their neighbors and by their church family.

It was a shock, then, when they called their grown children together to tell them that their marriage was over. Without revealing who was to blame, they both acknowledged to their children that they had allowed other things and other people to get in the way of their love for one another. They saw no hope of reconciliation. Their children were very distraught.

The next day Doris, their youngest daughter, called and arranged a meeting with her parents. During that meeting she revealed for the first time that she had experienced date rape as a teenager and had been too embarrassed to tell them. She also told how, years later, she had been able, with God's help, to forgive the boy who raped her. Using herself as an example, she began to teach her parents about God's power and Spirit who can help us with forgiveness.

And it worked! Though painful and hard, George and Mary found the path of forgiveness and reconciliation, helped by Doris and a talented counselor.