Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
My Review of Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers - Finding Freedom From Hurt and Hate - by Leslie Leyland Fields
Yes, it's time for another book review. But first, a confession.
I did NOT want to read this book. I didn't even want to read the cover. I did NOT want to forgive the people in my life who have hurt me. Probably not unlike a lot of other people, I wanted to hold their errors over their heads and punish them for as long as I could for the pain they caused me.
Why should I forgive someone who had so much disrespect for me that they hurt me the way they did? How COULD I forgive?
I once heard someone say, and I paraphrase, VERY loosely, that punishing someone by not forgiving them is like drinking poison and waiting for them to die. Okay.. I told you.. it was a VERY loose paraphrase. I'm way off, but you get the gist of it, I'm sure.
This was one of those books that God kind of hit me in the face with. It was one of those "If you want to move forward, you HAVE to do this", type of things.
In candor, I admit to you that I'm very glad that I heeded the 'nagging' of the Spirit that stirred me to reading this book.
From the first page of the Introduction, I KNEW that I wasn't alone. I KNEW that I wasn't the only person who had those idiosyncrasies. those silent wishes for revenge.. those justifications for my moods and attitudes. I knew that this was a book I HAD to read.
From the beginning of this emotional book, Leslie held my hand and walked me through her very personal journey; sharing fond and not so fond memories of her life with me. She shared her fears, her sadness, and her anger. Her transparency was refreshing and it made it difficult for me to put the book down.
I would have stormed right through the book, but the participation questions at the end of the chapters made me put the book on 'pause', if you will, every now and again. They were thought provoking questions that got me in touch with myself. Some of them were real questions.. and they all made me take a good, long, hard look at myself in a totally different light.
I recognized myself on almost every single page of this book. I've heard it before. I know you've heard it before... but forgiveness isn't necessarily about the freedom of the person we're forgiving; it's about OUR freedom.
God knew, when He put this book in front of me. He know I couldn't carry the weight of unwillingness to forgive anymore. This book enlightened me. It guided me. It helped me. It showed me that I am not alone.. that I will never be alone.. that it's okay to be hurt and not want to forgive, but even more okay to take that step of faith and 'just do it'.
I recommend the gift of this book to anyone who has a hard time forgiving others.. or even themselves. I know that reading the book was only the first part of my 'Journey of Forgiveness'.... now comes the hard part.... walking the walk.
Well... onward and upward.. to FREEDOM and FORGIVING!!!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
I did NOT want to read this book. I didn't even want to read the cover. I did NOT want to forgive the people in my life who have hurt me. Probably not unlike a lot of other people, I wanted to hold their errors over their heads and punish them for as long as I could for the pain they caused me.
Why should I forgive someone who had so much disrespect for me that they hurt me the way they did? How COULD I forgive?
I once heard someone say, and I paraphrase, VERY loosely, that punishing someone by not forgiving them is like drinking poison and waiting for them to die. Okay.. I told you.. it was a VERY loose paraphrase. I'm way off, but you get the gist of it, I'm sure.
This was one of those books that God kind of hit me in the face with. It was one of those "If you want to move forward, you HAVE to do this", type of things.
In candor, I admit to you that I'm very glad that I heeded the 'nagging' of the Spirit that stirred me to reading this book.
From the first page of the Introduction, I KNEW that I wasn't alone. I KNEW that I wasn't the only person who had those idiosyncrasies. those silent wishes for revenge.. those justifications for my moods and attitudes. I knew that this was a book I HAD to read.
From the beginning of this emotional book, Leslie held my hand and walked me through her very personal journey; sharing fond and not so fond memories of her life with me. She shared her fears, her sadness, and her anger. Her transparency was refreshing and it made it difficult for me to put the book down.
I would have stormed right through the book, but the participation questions at the end of the chapters made me put the book on 'pause', if you will, every now and again. They were thought provoking questions that got me in touch with myself. Some of them were real questions.. and they all made me take a good, long, hard look at myself in a totally different light.
I recognized myself on almost every single page of this book. I've heard it before. I know you've heard it before... but forgiveness isn't necessarily about the freedom of the person we're forgiving; it's about OUR freedom.
God knew, when He put this book in front of me. He know I couldn't carry the weight of unwillingness to forgive anymore. This book enlightened me. It guided me. It helped me. It showed me that I am not alone.. that I will never be alone.. that it's okay to be hurt and not want to forgive, but even more okay to take that step of faith and 'just do it'.
I recommend the gift of this book to anyone who has a hard time forgiving others.. or even themselves. I know that reading the book was only the first part of my 'Journey of Forgiveness'.... now comes the hard part.... walking the walk.
Well... onward and upward.. to FREEDOM and FORGIVING!!!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)