From Forgiveness to Family
Matthew 6:12 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Over the past few years, I’ve been on this journey of writing songs inspired by the real life stories that people send to me.
This one story in particular has had a profound impact on me. It hit me kind of hard. It’s about a woman who did the impossible, and it made me ask myself if I could do the same.
Renee had four kids. Two of her daughters were twins. Megan was coming home from the beach one night with her best friend when their car was struck by a drunk driver named Eric, a 24-year-old kid.
Megan lost her life. Eric killed both girls that were in the car. Renee lost her daughter in an instant. Next thing she knows, she finds herself in a courtroom watching this young man, this 24-year-old man, get sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Renee wrote to me and said, “I now have a mission that I never would have chosen.”
What she meant by that is that in the years that followed, she began to travel around to schools and churches and different functions, and she would speak about the dangers of drunk driving.
But as the years progressed, she felt like something was missing from her presentation, and that’s when God put it on her heart that she had not forgiven this man who took the life of her daughter. And so she reached out and did the impossible.
She reached out to Eric in prison and said, “I forgive you.”
The ripple effects of that act of forgiveness are still being felt today. That young man’s life was absolutely changed because this woman forgave him.
He said, “I can’t even forgive myself, and she forgave me.” Eric said he found his eternal salvation as a result of this act.
One by one, all of Rene’s family members followed her lead, and they reached out and expressed forgiveness to Eric. So much so that now they describe Eric as part of their family, like a son to Renee.
The story doesn’t stop there though. Renee went to the courts along with her family, and she was able to have Eric’s sentence cut in half from 22 years to 11 years.
This blew me away.
The reason she did it is so that Eric could have a second chance at life, and so that he could join her in their presentations. She told me that now she shares not only about the dangers of drunk driving, but also about the power of forgiveness.
— Matthew West
LYRICS
It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just to real
It takes everything you have just to say the word…
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying “Set It Free”
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it’s power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Songwriters: Matthew West
