Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.
Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. What is your amazing forgiveness story?
Like, maybe you were forgiven or maybe you forgave someone or maybe you know a story of someone that was just like, man, I can't even imagine being in that position and then forgiving that person based on what took place. I know you got one. I would love to hear it.
This is a live show and you guys make the show. I absolutely love it when you call in 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. You know, on Saturday I did Kingdom Pursuits and I just had an amazing story.
I've thought about it all weekend. It just blows my mind. I was interviewing Alex with Samaritan's Purse. They're doing Operation Christmas Child. And he grew up in Rwanda. And I don't know much about that country, actually, but he went on to explain that when he was six years old there was a war in the country. And he at the time was being raised by his grandmother, he and two siblings, and his uncle. Well, apparently these warring tribes came in one day looking for them, unfortunately, and he stood there and watched as his grandmother was murdered before his eyes and then his uncle. And then he and his two siblings ran for their lives. Somehow or another God provided an escape for them. And later, when he was seven years old, they were put in an orphanage, wonderfully, by a Christian organization of some kind, obviously. And they were connected to Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child. And somewhere in America, or somewhere, maybe in England, I don't know, but somewhere there was a child and a parent that put together a shoebox. And they prayed for Alex.
And it's one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard of it. Nonetheless, there he was, the first gift he ever got in his life. The first gift he ever got in his life was one of those shoeboxes of Operation Christmas Child. I hope your church is doing them.
I think it's absolutely fabulous and amazing. Because I know my kids did it for years. And they prayed and they packed those shoeboxes with something special. And Alex got something special.
He got a little hairbrush slash comb pick combination that he said was his most favorite. He carried around for three years. He was just so elated with the idea that somebody somewhere cared about him, having been through all that he had been through. And it's an amazing story of forgiveness in this way. God made a way for him to come to the United States because he joined a choir.
He could sing. And he found himself with a wonderful Christian couple in America that helped him work through how he could not be bitter. He accepted Christ when he was seven, but yet to have your whole heart, the way that Jesus binds up our broken hearts and set us free, is often in that we are held captive because we don't forgive somebody. He forgives us, and that's a gift.
But it's also a gift to be able to forgive, because you're the one held captive. And I know that it's a very difficult thing. But what's your story? I would love to hear it.
866-348-7884, 86634-TRUTH. In Alex's case, he began to pray as he went to work, actually, for Samaritan's Purse, an Operation Christmas Child, that somehow or another not only would he be able to forgive the people that shot his grandmother and his uncle, but that he would actually be able to sit in front of them and offer that forgiveness. And from what he explained, he made three trips back to Rhonda. And on the third trip, he sat in front of the man that had killed his uncle. And there, if you're familiar with the Corrie Ten Boom story, what she went through in those prison camps in Nazi Germany, if you're familiar with her story, her sister was brutally tortured and all and ended up passing. And she got to sit in front of the man that had tortured her sister and offered him forgiveness, right? It's a gift.
It's a gift. I hope you've received it. I hope that you've been able to do it, you know? And what did that look like in your life?
866-348-7884. I stand amazed. Maybe you've seen the movie Jonathan Sperry, where, you know, in his case, the secrets of Jonathan Sperry, actually the secrets, just a spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie, but you've got to see it. It's an amazing movie.
It stars Gavin MacLeod. But his wife had been killed by a drunk driver who happened to live across the street from him. And all the things he did to help lead that man to Christ, it's amazing, right? The opportunity that we have as we pray the Lord's Prayer to not only get forgiveness, but to receive it. And I was just sitting in my own mind thinking as I was preparing for this show, is the gift of forgiveness greater from a standpoint of giving or receiving?
I'm talking about human on human. Obviously, it's unbelievable that God would forgive us and that we would be able to, you know, that Jesus died for us, that we would be able to take his blood as a seal that we truly are and be able to come into the presence of God. That's beyond amazing, beyond amazing, but undoubtedly the greatest gift we'll ever receive. But then it's also a huge gift if you're like Alex and you've got this, you know, tremendous bitter thing that happened to you, I can't imagine, or you knew of it with somebody else, and that's what we'd love to hear about.
You know why? Because your story could greatly affect somebody else that's struggling with something similar, or just, you know, anytime you hear a testimony of how God works through something that seemed impossible, you know, that's the idea of forgiveness in its own way, that it has this idea of doing the impossible, which, you know, I hope you've had a chance to, I really, really do, I hope you've experienced Jesus' forgiveness, but maybe, you know, as is explained in our Lord's Prayer, you know, we've got to forgive others as he's forgiven us. We've been forgiven much, and so we should love much, and we should be able to forgive much. What does that look like in your life? 866-348-7884.
I love to study the original language of Hebrew, and I studied that whole idea. I'll share some of that when I come back, but what I'd really love to share is your story. 866-348-7884. What is your amazing forgiveness story? I'd love to hear it. 866-348-7884.
I'm here by myself, so I need your calls, please. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live! Today's show, what's your amazing, amazing forgiveness story? The one that maybe you saw happen, or maybe you were involved in it on either end. Maybe you were the forgiver or the forgiv-ee, as the case may be. I would love, I would love, love, love to hear your story, like Corrie Tim Boon, or, you know, how in the world did she forgive that Nazi officer that brutally tortured her sister?
How does that happen? 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884. Would really, really, really love to hear your story. I know it would encourage lots of other folks, so pray about it. If God wants you to, don't hesitate.
866-348-7884. And as I was saying right before the break, I studied that word a lot over the weekend. Preached a sermon on it, actually. And it's fascinating to me that the word in Hebrew is actually also translated to bear up or to lift up.
Right? And one of the first uses of it, actually, is in Genesis 7.17. And it says, the flood was 40 days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bear up the ark, and it was lifted above the earth. Wow, that sounds familiar, right?
In a lot of different ways. Number one, the ark is certainly a picture of Jesus. It was obviously saving those that were inside of it.
And they were clearly God's favorite, as Noah's name itself is kind of grace spelled backwards. But the ark in the tabernacle was the place of the mercy seat where Jesus was, and all that is very much a picture of forgiveness in and of itself, right? And then the fact that it was lifted up above the earth as the bronze serpent was, and Jesus was lifted up as our sin, it's an amazing thing. But also, I spent a lot of time creating a picture for my sermon, because I wanted to picture it, and sometimes I worship by, you know, just trying to create something in an image that kind of portrays what I was thinking. And what I did was I took a man that only had one leg, and he was on crutches, obviously, and I found a blind man.
And so what I did was I kind of created a picture where the blind man was being held up, essentially holding up the man without a leg, but the man without a leg was kind of leading the blind man. And, you know, this is a little different in Jesus' forgiveness, but in our case, when we forgive others, you know, it's kind of like one broken person leading another. In other words, when we forgive somebody, we have so much, so much, so much to be forgiven for.
And so we're kind of lifting up our brother, hopefully on the way to the celestial city, as we go that way, and, you know, you go that way. And I love Matthew S. Song, where he says the prisoner that it really sets free is you. And as I was studying Isaiah 61 and thinking about, you know, Jesus is here, as it says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to, you know, certainly preach the good news and all that, it says He's going to bind up the brokenhearted. And so that was really my question. How God do you bind up brokenhearted?
Well, one of the ways that He does that is not only through His forgiveness for you, but when you set some of those prisoners free, the people that you're struggling to forgive. And that's why I say that some of these stories that you may be holding on to would really be valuable for people to hear. 866-348-7884, it's a live show, we need your calls, all right? I'm hoping one call will begin, another call will begin, another one. So be the first one to call in.
866-348-7884. You know, it's been my experience that one of the most difficult people to forgive is the person that sins against me the most. Did you know that, Grayson? Who do you think sins against Robbie Dillmore the most? Are you thinking?
I can see he's got a thinking cap on. Anyway, it's me. I shave the person that sins against me the most. However, it's a difficult thing to receive forgiveness.
It is. And, you know, it requires you being able to actually accept the payment that God, because I feel so guilty, and I beat myself up time and time again, especially with sins that I do continually. And, you know, road rage, you may think, well, Robbie, you are the Christian car guy.
I am, but there's times, like just even on my way to the studio, this man kept tailgating me and really, really aggressively tailgating me until eventually I just pulled over. I said, you know, I've got to let go of this somehow, because you think about all those things. Maybe I should stop short. Maybe I should do, you know, all these things, and no doubt Satan is setting a trap for you. But then Jesus forgives you for that moment, and you've got to be able to accept it and receive that idea of complete innocence. So one of the people that's really difficult to forgive in my book is yourself. And maybe have a story along those lines. I think that it's so powerful.
866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. If you've ever seen the movie Good Will Hunting, you know, one of the most remarked upon scenes and often, you know, shown, is the scene where Robin Williams just grabs him, because his father had brutally beat him. He beat him actually, you know, with much worse than a belt, right? He told him to choose between, you know, do you want, as I recall, it was a belt and a wrench, and there was something else, and he said, I chose the wrench, because, you know, just like, if you're going to do that, do that. And so, if you can imagine being beat by a wrench, but then interestingly, what Robin Williams started to tell him that really messed with him, if you remember the scene, is he starts saying, it's not your fault. And he looks him in the eye and he goes, oh yeah, I know it's not my fault. He goes, no, it's not your fault. And then he begins to just say it over and over again, it's not your fault, it's not your fault. But eventually, if you've seen the scene, it's so powerful, he hugs him. And of course, you know, the Matt Damon character just breaks into uncontrollable tears, because the whole thing is, is so many people that are abused, they still think it was their fault. And deep inside of that is this idea of being able to forgive ourselves and to realize that, you know, we were duped at whatever level, Satan set a trap, and you took the bait. However it looked, but it wasn't your fault. Or maybe it was your fault, but yet still Jesus is forgiving you, and the idea of receiving that is huge.
And again, it's a difficult, difficult thing, but very, very, very powerful, because again, you're setting yourself free from something and just giving it to God and allowing it to give you that freedom. Maybe you got a story like that, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884, another one very, very similar, if you ever see the movie The Kid, absolutely spectacular movie. Again, the character is a very hardened, you know, Bruce Willis plays the part, and he comes off as a real jerk, for lack of a better word. Okay, he is a difficult person to deal with. But it's often the case he's been hurt when he was a young kid, and so hurt people hurt people. And we'll get to more on that, but more than that, we would love to get to your story of forgiveness. 866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share what is your amazing forgiveness story, right? When did it happen to you?
Maybe you saw something with somebody else. We would love to hear it, 866-348-7884. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today we're talking about what's your amazing forgiveness story. Maybe you received the gift of forgiveness, or maybe you handed it out.
We would love your story, 866-348-7884. And as we were talking about before the break, one of the most difficult people to forgive is ourselves. And it traps us in very unique ways that you may not be aware of.
I've been more aware of it through the years. But again, in the movie The Kid, it shows a really cool, cool scene, and it helps us to understand ourselves better. It's not just a cool scene, it's actually the theme of the movie, is that Bruce Willis meets his eight-year-old self, or his actually seven-year-old self, or I think he's his seven-year-old at the beginning of the show. And, you know, he has a problem with people crying. Any time somebody cries in the movie, he looks at him and he says, Do I need to call the whambulance?
It's funny, but it's not funny, okay, because he has a real problem with people crying, and it drives him crazy, gives him a headache every single time. Well, again, through the miracles of Disney and movies, he goes back in time to see that his mother was dying of cancer, and he had gotten into a fight in school, and he had been brought home. In this particular scene, his father is losing it, because his father is fixed to lose his wife, he's very sad. And, you know, the boy's gotten in a fight and he's in trouble, and so the father meets the boy in the driveway, and they're all three standing there looking, in other words, Bruce Willis is his older self is standing there looking at him, and the younger Bruce Willis is there, and the father is shaking the young boy and saying, Stop crying, you need to grow up, you need to grow up, you're killing her, you're killing her. And so in that message that he delivered to that eight-year-old boy, you see he was delivering the message that it was his fault, that his mother was dying. And he was also delivering the message that you need to grow up and stop crying, right? And so, interestingly, the older Bruce Willis now gets to see what had happened when he was eight that he'd completely forgot about, and, of course, as the younger Bruce Willis comes back to meet with the older Bruce Willis, the older Bruce Willis is crying for the first time, and the younger Bruce Willis goes, Do I need to call the wham-mulus?
It's hilarious. But then he says, I thought you don't cry, and he said, Not since my eighth birthday, right? The scene happened on his eighth birthday. And he also realized that he had this twitch, and then the young Bruce Willis looks up at him and goes, Moms dying, and he goes, Yeah, I know. And he says, How soon? And he says, Before your next birthday. And he says, Is it my fault?
Right? And you see the situation is this young boy had accepted some blame for his mother's passing of cancer, right? But it had gotten buried down into that whole situation with him, and in order to forgive himself, he needed to know he blamed himself, right? And it's really a complicated thing, the stuff, the wounds that Satan lets us into, but the thing of it is, if you're going to get your heart, in other words, getting back to Isaiah 61, we were talking about to bind up your broken heart, right, to set the captives free, we got to realize where it's broken, right?
And that's why it's so wonderful that Jesus has been with us ever since the beginning, right? And he knows every part of your life, and so maybe you got something in your life like that, where you just go crazy whenever somebody does something that just seems inappropriate, and you just never understand why you can't get over something like that. Well, the neat thing is Jesus, again, he knows what it is that's got you held captive, and you can, with the help of a good counselor, or even just spending time alone with Jesus, and I have done this, gone back into situations in my life where I did not understand why I always reacted a certain way, but when Jesus took me back to the actual incident, and then we began to pray and ask for forgiveness, obviously forgiveness for myself, but forgiveness for my father for shaking me and saying that, because part of what Bruce Willis did in the movie was forgive his father, because his father was hurting because his mother was dying, but he didn't realize that as an eight-year-old. But if you looked at their relationship to the movie, you'll see that he can't stand his father. But after this incident, he sees him in a whole different light, right? His father was dealing with the loss of his wife. And so all those things are amazing forgiveness stories, and what would yours be?
866-348-7884, 86634 truth. So sometimes forgiveness may be really, really hard, and there's other times, have you ever had this experience where something really bad happened to you, but you found it easy to forgive? Even something that may have been seen a little bit heinous, or maybe a lot heinous, but for some reason, God gave you the gift of forgiveness, and it wasn't something you just struggled and struggled over? Well, I had that happen. For those of you who are real familiar with my story, I was the Chrysler dealer in Marksville, North Carolina, for about ten years, and apparently the last four or five years of it, I had an office manager, and she had been embezzling. And I didn't know it, and actually, the year after I started doing a Christian Car Guys show, Chrysler Financial came in, did an audit, which they normally do, because they floor plan your cars. In other words, they're loaning the dealership money in order to keep all those cars out there, which is millions of dollars. And when they came into my office, they said, you know, Robbie, you're showing about $300,000 more in your checking account than you have.
And I'm like, huh? Because that's a lot of money. I wasn't, again, a giant car dealer, but $300,000 was like, wow. Well, honestly, by the time it all was unraveled, there was more than $300,000 missing.
It was over a million. And it happened, as we were talking about, right in the year, excuse me, I had the year wrong, the year was 2007. And in 2008 was when all the car companies were going bankrupt. In other words, all the effects of what would happen to Chrysler and General Motors were well in advanced stages by the time all this was happening. And so there was no way to bail out.
Chrysler was not in a position to help me. They were fixing to go bankrupt themselves. And it led to, unfortunately, the loss of, what some people could say, my life savings. Fortunately, my treasure was in heaven, okay?
But I did lose, literally. I lost my house, I lost all my cars. It was a horrific, horrific thing, but even worse, 20 employees lost their jobs. And there were other creditors that were left out in difficult situations.
God did give us the grace to have the way to make sure that all the customers, nobody was left without their title or the car not paid off or anything like that. But nonetheless, it was very, very, very, very difficult. And you can imagine that I would suppose a lot of people would find it hard to forgive that office manager who, by the way, was very unrepentant when we talked to her. I mean, to say that, oh, she just went and isolated and nobody could get ahold of her or anything. And then eventually, she came to justice and she was arrested, mostly on tax charges because some of the stuff that she had done with the payroll taxes. And the day came where the State Department of Revenue called me and they said, Robbie, the judge is asking if you would testify in this case because they said, you know, this looks like it's a victim of this crime, but certainly you lost, all your employees lost, and there's nobody better to tell that story than you.
And that's true. And I said, sure. So I drove to Raleigh for this case, and the night before, I was praying like, God, what, what, what? And God gave me a premonition, actually, that the judge was gonna ask me what to sentence her, right? He was gonna actually ask me, Robbie, okay, this happened, what should I give, how much time should I give her or whatever her sentence would be? And I had prepared a great answer, you know, and just like God had let me know the night before, you know, I got done testifying, unfortunately, she looked at me with a look that was horrible.
I don't know how to put it other than that, just very disturbed. But I did nothing but tell the truth of what happened, and she knew what happened, and she'd pled guilty. But still, the look she was giving me was not a love look, okay?
I'm just saying. And then, you know, the judge, just like God had let me know, the judge looked at me and he said, so, Robbie, you know, nobody knows more about this situation than you, you know, how much time should I give her? And again, I had my little answer prepared, I was like, well, judge, you know, I completely trust your judgment, it's a difficult situation, but, you know, I know you're gonna do exactly what's right, and he says, I'm not gonna let you off the hook with that. He said, I wanna know, how much time do you think she should serve? And you know how it says in the scripture that God will give you the words at the moment, now he'd actually given me some words prior to the moment, but those weren't the words.
He gave me the words in the moment, and this came out, and it was so true. I said, Your Honor, I said, honestly, I don't see how it serves the state of North Carolina to have, at the time, I think she was maybe a 68-year-old grandmother, you know, spend a lot of time in prison. I said, but, you know, when I go back home, I gotta let employees looking at me, I got my kids looking at me, and all those things, and I don't want them to think she got away with it.
And he looked at me and he goes, that's the answer I was looking for. He went, came back about 20 minutes later, and gave her a five-year sentence, suspended it to one, and, you know, there was that story. But how about yours?
866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. We would love today to hear your amazing, I really, really would, your amazing forgiveness story. Maybe it's the story of just your salvation. That's amazing all in itself, because obviously you were forgiven in the process. Or maybe there was something that you were held a captive by for many years, or you found difficult.
Or maybe it's a story that I was just describing about Frankie, about my office manager at the dealership, if you just heard that story. You know, that was not something I really struggled with. For whatever reason, God gave me that gift of forgiving her. And it's interesting to me that forgiveness, it seems like the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. I don't know how that works exactly, but I do know that sometimes it's a gift. And I would love to hear your story.
I really, really would, and I know that there's listeners out there that would be encouraged by it. 866-348-7884, I know you got forgiven of something, or maybe you gave it forgiveness. I think they're both a gift. There's no doubt to me it was a gift that I was able to forgive my office manager the way I did. I knew there were lots of people that I still know haven't forgiven her, and it's a shame. It's sad, because again, the prisoner that is held right there is not the office manager.
It's them. You know, give it to God, and we can bear up each other, and it's a wonderful thing. You hold them up, it's like, of course we want them to spend eternity in heaven, just like we did. You know, and the reason I think that it's such a gift is one of the most amazing stories I ever heard. You know, again, I sometimes just have to pinch myself.
I get to have so many amazing phone calls that I get to take, one of which I hope is you right now dialing 866-348-7884, but nonetheless, I had this lady call in to the Christian Car Guy show one time. It wasn't long ago, maybe a year or so ago, and she was showing an apartment complex to a man, and he just pulls out a gun and brutally, you know, rapes her. Essentially, that's what happened. And she went into some details about what that experience was like, and the way she described was that she was forgiving him. She was in the... And talk about a gift.
She was forgiving him while he was... And she talked about what a difference in his countenance happened from the point that when she first started meeting him and talking to him, he seemed like a pretty normal person, but then all of a sudden, when he pulled that gun out and all that began to happen, she said he turned into, like, an animal. And while she's in the middle of this attack, if you can imagine it, God tells her to look up in the man's face and tell him you forgive him. Like, can you imagine?
I've thought about this many times. Like, man, I mean, there's just... There's certain things in life I really struggle with, like, man, that's just... That would be unbelievable that God gave her that gift. I mean, you can't tell me that's not supernatural, that she's able to say that, and she says that his countenance changed. Is he standing there attacking her? I guess he wasn't standing, but whatever was happening, he was attacking her, and then all of a sudden, his countenance changes again back to this kind of person, and he begins to weep and cry uncontrollably, all this. He takes her out, and what a lot of people would think based on the story, he was going to kill her, and she... God gives her some other words.
And the interesting thing is, you could tell there was not one bitter bone in her body. She had been praying for the man for years. Amazing, you know, amazing story of how do you do that?
How do you forgive in the middle of something like that? I would... If that story makes something up in your spirit, call us.
We've got plenty of time. 866-348-7884. 866-34-TRUTH. Another one that happened, you know, that I saw with my own eyes, you know, just blew me away, and I'll never ever forget it as long as I live. It just got down on my soul. I hope it'll get down on yours because it's such a picture of the whole idea, is hurt people hurt people.
They just do, and it's sad, but that's why we've got to lift them up because we've been hurt too, and so, you know, forgiveness is really that act of lifting them up, and as Jesus did, forgive them for they know not what they do. So I taught special needs at Calvary Baptist Church for years and years and loved it, loved it, loved it, and I had one of my favorite, favorite guys. His name was Ryan. He's one of my favorites to this day, and just always the most loving would hug you.
Oh, my goodness. And, you know, my relationship with him had always been amazing. Now, he was not verbal. He didn't speak while he spoke, but they would be things like aha and other things where you could somewhat communicate with him, but as far as just having conversation, you'd never have a conversation with Ryan, but again, one of the most loving people I've ever met in my life, but occasionally, he would get into shenanigans like all of us, and so this particular day, for whatever reason, he had taken his mom's keys, and he threw them into one of the closets there at Calvary Church. You know, we had closets where we stored stuff, and he threw them into a closet that we didn't have a key to, and he locked it, and so we were kind of stuck.
Like, what are we going to do with Ryan? He threw his mom's keys in the closet, and so we went and found one of the superintendents or somebody to help us to go get these keys, and they came with a key to open the closet, and it was a lady, as I recall, and when she opened that closet, I've never seen anything like it, and you know how when you get really angry or you get, like, superhuman strength? Well, Ryan went into a rage I had no idea he was capable of. It's unbelievable, and he looked like he was going to kill somebody, and he slammed that door of that closet so hard that the entire building just shook. It was just like... I mean, that's how hard it shook, and then he turned, and it was obvious that he was headed for his mother, and it looked like he wanted to kill her to me, and it was my interpretation of the scene of the situation. Those who don't know me, I'm 6'5", and at the time, I think I weighed about 265 pounds, so I'm no small guy, right? Ryan is much, much, much smaller than me, but nonetheless, when he headed for his mother, I stood in front of him, and I'm like, Ryan, and he just threw me down like I was a rag muffin.
Like I said, superhuman strength. I don't know how he did it, but all I know is that he, I mean, literally threw me to the ground, and then he turned and looked at his mother again, and she looks up at him in a moment that will forever live in my memory, and she looks at him with the most loving, most beautiful look in her face, in her son's face, and says, does somebody need a hug? I mean, those were her words. Does somebody need a hug? That's a gift. That's instantaneous forgiveness. I mean, it's instantaneous, like, love, grace, right? Like, if he didn't feel love that minute, you know, who wouldn't? And Ryan melted. He, like, on the spot, melted into his mother's arms in just a shower of tears.
It was one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed in my life of just I don't know, and we will never know what was going on inside of Ryan with the keys and the closet and all that was going on. I don't know, but what I do know is he saw unconditional love. You know, like, man, I mean, if that wasn't Jesus in Carol's eyes, I just don't know what it was, and I've told the story many times because it just affected me, right? I tasted God, and I saw how good he was, right? Because when you see that in another person, you're tasting God. You know that's supernatural, right? Where does that come from?
Where does that come from? You've got a story. I would love to hear it.
We've still got two or three more minutes. I did not expect to do this show as a monologue, but it's okay. I've loved doing it, loved sharing the stories. 866, however, we would love to get yours in. 866-348-7884. You know, what did you witness? When did you witness it, right?
866-348-7884. And, you know, some of our more difficult ones, right, are our parents. Unfortunately, my mother, when I was 12, did a very, very serious job of attempting suicide.
Like, oh, my goodness. She took a ton of medication and jumped in the backseat of a car in a rest area between Detroit, Michigan, and Flint, Michigan, in the middle of the winter. And they didn't find her for about a week. And when they found her, she was not much left of her, and, you know, they immediately saved her life, cut a trach, but she had lost her memory.
She had no sense of anything. For a long time, she was hospitalized. And, you know, it's a traumatic time on all sorts of levels for all four of us children, obviously. Why would our mom, you know?
And all those things we talked about, or entered into that, it affects a lot of things, right? Like, I know I must have been somehow or another responsible. That's what a 12-year-old's, right?
He's got to get rid of that. It's not my fault. But at the same point in time, you know, Mom, how could you do this, you know? And so you've got to forgive yourself. You've got to forgive your mom. And suicide attempts or suicides, period, come with loads and loads and loads of forgiveness issues and bondage and all those kind of things. I know it's really, really hard. And I know so many people who struggle right within there because, right, you've got to forgive yourself. You've got to forgive the person that did it.
And all those things. My grandmother came and raised us for a couple years there, maybe a year and a half. I forget how long it was exactly. But they somehow or another miraculously worked with my mother to where she regained her memory of us and all that stuff. And they miraculously were able to restore her mental health. And she would tell you that a big issue within the side of her being able to restore her mental health was being able to forgive herself for not mourning her grandmother's death. And so my mother went on to live a beautiful life into her 80s. Oh, man, if you ever heard the Christian Car Guy show back in the day, you heard her voice. She was an amazing person because she learned how to forgive herself. And, of course, we kids got to forgive her. And so set yourself free or help somebody free, obviously, just by accepting Jesus. I'm so grateful for you listening today. And we'll be back tomorrow with more Truth Talk Live!
