Why I Wrote Carolina Reckoning

My parents divorced when I was nine year’s old. In many ways, I am Claire and Justin, and back then I was angry at everyone, most of all God, when my world fell apart.

I wrestled with feelings of anger, abandonment, forgiveness, and faith. Like Alison, I longed to find Someone upon which I could rely. And at the foot of the Cross, I discovered a Father God who is always faithful and true. He is enough for every need, past, present and future.

Like Alison’s ultimate choice, as a teenager I came to a crossroads—to carry an anger that in the end harmed me more than anyone else or to choose to forgive, to forgive someone who’d never asked for my forgiveness nor deserved it. But to forgive anyway, like God had forgiven me. Because unforgiveness brings its own reckoning. It isn’t how God wants us to live. And God’s way is always the best way.

Have you ever wrestled to forgive someone or yourself? Which was harder?