Bankruptcy And Forgiveness.

 Now think about a time you were mad at someone and you forgave them.  Remember the feeling of relief that washed over you?  The fact is  if  you do not forgive, the grudge will take over your body and soul through stress.  In turn this stress can literally rip you apart at the seams while overtaking your thoughts and emotions.

When you are going broke and considering bankruptcy, sometimes  you just want to scream.  You want to hold those who made you broke accountable for their actions.  How dare anyone hurt your family and take away everything that you have worked for.   By God, someone is going to pay for this tragedy one way or another!  As a result you become so focused on the past and how you became bankrupt that you cannot see that there is hope to regain financial control.  The future cannot be seen because your anger is holding you hostage in the past.

Without forgiveness you cannot begin to heal.  Heal your relationships.  Heal your mind. Heal your body and ultimately your soul.

Does this situation sound  familiar?  It is not uncommon for a potential client to come into the interview and unleash all that rage on me.   My fight or flight system kicked in the first time this happened and as former member of the Creighton TE Kwon Do team I did not see myself running anywhere.  Once I regained composure I knew I had to find a  way to assist my clients with forgiveness or they were never going to make it through the bankruptcy process.

I believe that forgiveness is truly the first step in filing bankruptcy.   The greatest example  of forgiveness that I can think of is  Amish Grace .  In 2006 Charles Roberts took Nickel Mines Amish school children hostage.  Charles then proceeded  to excute five of the girls while wounding five others.  It was a horrific scene where no one would ever blame the Amish families for being mad or even expressing hate towards the gunman.  Instead and almost immediately this community offered forgiveness towards the gunman and his family.

Forgiveness is a powerful and necessary tool in your arsenal.  It returns the power to you that hate and anger have stripped.  It frees your mind so can see possibilities  instead of negativity.  It lowers your blood pressure and cleanses your soul.   How can any of that be bad?

Is forgiveness easy?  Heck no! In fact as I am writing this on a flight, I am experiencing a whole host of emotions.  Not a wise choice to write an emotional article when locked in a tin can.  Luckily I have the window seat because  I have to keep looking out the window as the people next to me keep staring at the reactions on my face.   Hence the voices in my head, “YOU SHOULD TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE AND FORGIVE!”.

Forgiveness truly does fly in the face of reality many times, but it has to be done so you can move on and heal.  If you do not forgive yourself and others, you will be battling anger the entire time in bankruptcy and may not have the strength to  make it to the discharge.

Forgiveness does not mean that you forget or excuse the wrong doing.  But rather the Amish believe that a “willingness to forgo vengeance does not undo the tragedy or pardon the wrong.  It does, however, constitute a first step toward a future that is more hopeful, and potentially less violent, than it otherwise would be.”

Matthew West captures the true emotion and spirit of forgiveness in his titled Forgiveness.

 ”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

If God forgives you and your debt in Deuteronomy 15:1-2 is it not time that you forgave yourself?

Remember that knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have about the power of forgiveness you in turn will have more power to find peace in the midst of you financial storm.