Forgiving Your Family: A Journey to Healing
Books / Paperback
Books › Religion › Christian Life › General
ISBN: 0835898024 / Publisher: Upper Room Books, April 2005
“Forgiving is one of the hardest things families have to do. Because the family is where we most cou...
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“Forgiving is one of the hardest things families have to do. Because the family is where we most count on being loved and accepted, it is the context where we are hurt most deeply and often. Left unhealed, these wounds eat away at our health and happiness,” writes Kathleen Fischer. Forgiving Your Family offers fresh approaches to living out the New Testament ideals in the hard realities of family conflict. Psychotherapist Kathleen Fischer identifies difficult points on the path to forgiveness in family relationships and offers guidance to work through them. She maintains that communication skills, while indispensable, are not enough—the work of forgiveness rests on faith and prayer. After discussing the meaning of forgiveness, her book shows us why, if we are to forgive others, we must first steep ourselves in God’s love and forgiveness. “Since the Bible so often uses water as a divine image, I suggest to family members who feel powerless over their rage that they imagine themselves pouring it into the ocean of God’s love, where it can be safely and compassionately absorbed.” Her book contains stories, practical strategies, and prayer suggestions. Chapters show how to stay safe while forgiving, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, ways to deal with anger and avoid revenge, the importance of our family history, and how to let go of hurts and move on. The examples in her book embody what she has learned about roadblocks to forgiveness and breakthroughs to reconciliation. Fischer draws from over 20 years of counseling families in a variety of settings.
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