Praying for Ukraine and Learning Hard Forgiveness

I confess that I originally had a different post pre-planned for release today. Interestingly enough, it featured Corrie ten Boom and her perspective on problems in life. I still plan to release that post, perhaps next time, especially since her views as concentration camp survivor and later her voice of hope and grace are especially poignant right now as most of the world struggles with how to think and feel about the Ukraine situation—and none of it is positive.

          Disbelief. Hurt. Anger. Injustice. Worry. Fear. Grief. I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface as to what many of us are grappling with as we watch, helplessly, as Russia continues its invasion and unwanted domination of Ukraine. We watch footage of missiles, rockets, and fires. We listen and read stories filled with anguish and desperation. We wonder how anyone could ever do such a thing. Attacks on innocents? Mass destruction? There are no words, no thoughts.

          We pray and pray, watching and waiting as this atrocity rages on. I’ve read and heard stories of miraculous protection, rockets and missiles that totally missed or failed to detonate, sparing untold lives. What a praise!! Thank You, God! Every single one, even if it is just one, is a huge praise! And yet, there are still others that go off resulting in losses that can never be reclaimed.

          We search for ways to help and find opportunities to donate to the refugees that have mercifully escaped the horrors that ravage their homeland. So we give and give and continue to pray and pray, but at the time of this writing, Russia is not relenting, trapping who knows how many in a war zone.

          I’ve found my mind often going to Corrie ten Boom and her life of confident trust in God no matter what. I’ve thought often of her words that inspire hope and encourage gracious forgiveness and to stand strong in the face of fear as I’ve wondered how men, women, and especially children are surviving. I’ve looked into the faces of my children and the tears threaten to spill over, grateful that we are safe and yet grieved and horrified that mothers in the Ukraine don’t have that same freedom.

          Corrie ten Boom found the secret to the strength to do what many of us may find unimaginable right now. Forgive. I’m finding myself less critical of the prophet Jonah and in even more awe and wonder of Corrie as this crisis continues to unfold. I confess that I’ve read the story of Jonah in the Bible so many times and have often thought Why didn’t he just go? God told him to, why didn’t he just obey? Why wouldn’t he want God to spare a whole city of people? But we often forget the background information.

Our Bibles spare us the gory details of how cruel and violent the people of Nineveh were. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say, there’s a good reason why Jonah didn’t want to go there. For one, he most likely wanted to stay alive. For two, even if the people of Nineveh didn’t actively go against the Israelites in Jonah’s lifetime, Jonah and the rest of the Israelites certainly knew who they were and how vicious they were. How they would invade other people’s homelands and conquer them, committing what would nowadays be considered horrific war crimes, unfit for the evening news. As we watch Russia’s actions, can we really blame Jonah’s reticence? If I’m to be really honest…I no longer can. I’m finding myself identifying more with Jonah’s attitude than Corrie’s. I find that I struggle with anger as I watch and think about how one entity’s selfishness, greed, and pride can cause it to behave so poorly toward others. I find myself praying prayers of worry as tensions escalate and heads-of-states have to make difficult and history-making, world-changing decisions…no matter which side each decides to land on every step of the way.

In the midst of all this, as I’ve prayed and prayed for our leaders, for Ukraine, the relief workers, missionaries, and churches, I found another prayer, a personal one, surfacing from my heart. Lord, may Your joy be my strength and Your grace be my guide. Somehow, it calmed my heart, my thoughts. It refocused me, centering me on Christ. As I went about my day at work, at home, the news flashed on TVs, alerts came to my phone, and people were heard talking in tones laced with tension that comes from worry, Lord, may Your joy be my strength and Your grace be my guide.

Yes, it applies to my day-to-day as I interact with coworkers and clients and their families, but it applies to everything…even to the Russia-Ukraine situation. Yes, I will continue to pray for protection for Ukraine, give as I’m able to the refugee efforts, and pray for wisdom for the leaders of the world. But, I can also pray that the joy I’ve found in being forgiven will give me strength enough to forgive the leaders of Russia, and the grace I’ve been given to live in God’s freedom guide me in how to extend a heart and attitude of grace to the leaders of Russia. As I’ve said and spoken on before, forgiveness and grace have nothing to do with the “other person (or country).” If it did, I never would have been forgiven and never would have received grace.

Choosing forgiveness and choosing grace has nothing to do with their choices and actions. It has everything to do with my own mind and heart and keeping myself poison-free from those toxic emotions connected to memories—even if those memories are still being formed. Is it hard? YES! Is it ongoing? At the time of this writing—YES! It’s so hard; I don’t think I can do it on my own strength, that’s why I need His.

I need the strength and power from His joy and grace to fuel my ability to walk in forgiveness and grace. Will there be justice? I certainly hope so, but, I am not the judge or jury. My job is to keep my mind and heart clear before the Lord because the number one most important thing in life is to be connected to Him, and we can’t do that if we’re holding onto unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment.

So, I will choose to dig deep into and cling to the joy I’ve found in my forgiveness in Christ and focus on His grace to help me moment by moment choose a gracious attitude even toward those who society deems unworthy of such gestures. Why? Because that’s what Jesus did. And as I write this post, I wonder if that was Corrie’s secret. Did she find such joy in being forgiven and did she remain so laser-focused on His grace that it gave her the strength to not only survive the unimaginable but to thrive and become a voice for the hope, healing, and freedom found in forgiveness? Perhaps. I suppose I will never find out this side of heaven. And Jonah? Did his heart ever change? Did he ever catch a revelation of God’s forgiveness, or did he just watch it happen to others from the sidelines? No idea. I suppose I will have to wait for that one too. But either way, the path to forgiveness and living in a revelation of forgiveness to the point that I am empowered to forgive even the unforgiveable is one that for me, I will choose to walk every day, even if that every day needs to be broken down into split-second increments. I pray that you will choose it too.

I pray that every person who reads this post would have a revelation of God’s forgiveness and grace in your hearts. I pray God’s joy would fill your hearts and minds and be your strength as you go about your day. I pray that His grace would be your guide, directing your actions and seasoning your words. I pray for an enlarged capacity to experience the love and grace of God and also an enlarged capacity to extend love and grace to others. I pray for eyes to see yourselves and others the way God does. I pray for eyes that see with mercy instead of judgment. Lord, I pray that You would show each person moment by moment and step by step how to live and walk in forgiveness every day. Amen.