The civil war in Liberia was brutal and bloody. Shadrach and his family fought to survive during this time. Everything that they had ever known was gone. The Firestone Rubber Plantation that employed Shad’s father, shut down. People from one county were fighting against the people of another. Simply being from a certain county made them the enemy of another who may have in the past been their friend. Many, many children were forced to fight as soldiers. Can you imagine this? I can’t even come close. I feel it only because I have heard it but I can’t really comprehend something that is so far from my own experience. I only know that when Shadrach came to the US he was rail thin (as my grandmother would say). He had one small bag he brought with him with maybe one other set of clothes in it. This consisted of a dark pair of pants and a white long sleeved shirt we wouldn’t even give to Goodwill. He had his Bible that was given to him by Operation Classroom. That was it. Every material thing he once had called his own had been taken away. Thankfully no one in his immediate family died or was forced to fight. He still had them and he still had his faith. The war didn’t kill that too.
How many of us would be bitter after such horror? It would be difficult if not impossible not to be. But Shadrach is not bitter. He has been able to forgive and move on to heal Liberia. He tells me the people are tired of war. They don’t want to fight any longer but the country is in a shambles. There is much rebuilding needed that is going on right now to get Liberia back to the country it once was.
How has Shad been able to forgive in the midst of such devastation? Humanly speaking it would be impossible. But with God all things are possible. I find that I struggle just to forgive the little things that other people do. When a big thing comes along, I’m paralyzed. I struggled for a long time to forgive my ex-husband for things that led to our divorce. I firmly believe that the only way I have been able to forgive him is to ask God every day to help me forgive like he forgives. Forgiveness doesn’t happen in a moment. It’s a process. Little by little God cleansed my heart of the bitterness I felt. It was a painful process because He revealed to me the part I played in the divorce that I couldn’t see before. It takes me close to tears to think about it again but I truly have forgiven him. I don’t feel animosity towards him any longer when I’m around him. I haven’t forgotten what happened but those things don’t matter anymore. I’m actually planning a trip down to Fort Benning for our son’s graduation from boot camp together with my ex-husband and his wife. I few years ago I never would have imagined doing this (and wouldn’t have wanted to). God has changed my heart. Now does this mean that I don’t have trouble forgiving any more. By no means! Every time I feel that I have been wronged by someone else, I have to start the process over again asking God to help me to forgive.
I will say what I believe to be true through my own experience. To forgive is impossible for humans on our own. But when we call on the One who has forgiven us, we are given the power to forgive. Please pray that the Liberian people as a whole will ask for this power to forgive. It is the only way to heal their country.
Suzanne