Publisher’s Book Description

Whether giving or receiving, forgiveness is the key toward true healing and blessing.

God says there are no limits to forgiveness toward others or ourselves. And when Matthew West set out on a journey asking people to share their true life stories, Renée shared about how she chose to forgive the drunk driver who hit and killed her daughter.

This remarkable story and others like it bring peace and healing to the one needing and the ones giving forgiveness. Fifty powerful stories share forgiveness through divorce, betrayal, addiction, abandonment, death, and more. Each story ties into the promises of God’s faithfulness and healing, and ends with the story of God’s ultimate forgiveness through the message of salvation.

I have so enjoyed reading these stories. You should know this post is totally biased, as I have been a long time fan of Matthew West, since he started coming to the Oregon Coast before he was even married. That aside, I am glad that his words have continued to touch my heart, and I know will touch others.

But then, that’s the cool part of this book and his last several songs. He’s been allowing the fans to write in and create them. So when you read these stories, 50 powerful stories, they are raw. It’s like you’re having a conversation with a person in a quiet room. And then Matthew West comes in to tidy it up and move through to the next story. He provides verses from the Bible to back up his words. He strings the words to the song Forgiveness through the book.

As I was reading the other day, I came to a passage on page 86, where he shares advice from his mom, and the word to never let the sun go down on your anger for “anger is the foothold to the devil” Ephes. 4:26-27. “Anger left unattended is an open door for Satan to further his plan for your life . . .”  He goes on to give a list of the very different plan Satan has for your life.  I dogeared the page and highlighted it.

• Satan seeks to stir up resentment.
• God desires reconciliation.
• Satan tries to fuel the fires of your anger.
• God desires peace.
• Satan wants to destroy your relationship.
• God wants to rebuild your relationship and make it stronger than ever.
• Satan says you have the right to point  a finger.
• God leads you to examine yourself first.

He gave verses for each point. We had been going through a time where we had been offended by a person, and they had hurt our family. And I looked at the verse. Had I been feeling resentment? Memories fanning my anger? Would my stance destory? Did I feel like I had the right to feel this way?  Woah. Wonder who was knocking at my door?

I just thought I’d share a snippet of the spot that the book, through the Word, spoke to my heart and corrected my thinking.

You could read this through, like a regular book, or you could read a story at a time, or you could flip through stories and dive in where the Spirit leads.

As you can imagine, I highly recommend this book. It is NOT a finger pointing book to manipulate someone into forgiveness. With 50 different stories, anyone can identify with the text without someone feeling targeted. It would make a beautiful gift, or encouragement to your family.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Forgiveness by Matthew West from Booksneeze in exchange for writing a review.