By: Jacque Harms
The words “I forgive you” sometimes come easily. You may say “forgive me” as you pass a fellow shopper at the grocery store or bump into someone in the hallway. But can you forgive the sister who deeply hurt your feelings, or a brother who may not understand the pain after a family fight?
Imagine forgiving the people who killed most of your family in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Immaculee Ilibigaza survived that horrific slaughter after hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven women for 91 days as people with machetes and guns murdered a million of her Tutsi tribe violently in their homes and streets.
A neighbor protected her with great risk to his life and the lives of his family. As she stood shoulder to shoulder with those women in a small, hidden bathroom, she spent hours and days using her rosary and her faith to fight the pangs of hunger and fear of death. Immaculee prayed to God for survival and the ability to forgive.
Immaculee now travels the world, sharing her message of forgiveness and love. Her book “Left To Tell” and her retreats encourage people to embrace prayer and her message.
“We have a God; we have so much to be happy about. Don’t let anything take away your peace. That’s including your anger; it’s not worth it to be angry; to be hateful,” says Immaculee, “Love is Everything! And God is Almighty.”
Immaculee will be in North Platte, Nebraska, November 14-15, 2014, for a Friday evening and Saturday morning retreat at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. She shares with people the power of prayer, and the reasons to forgive. “There’s a craving in me that when I meet someone who is needy, sad or feeling like there is no way,” says Immaculee, “that I want to reach out to them and tell them ‘NO! You still have so much to be happy about.’ ”
She recognizes that it very hard for people to forgive. Immaculee says, “How do I let it go and for what? There is a little bit of reward, a little bit of sweetness in being angry.” She agrees that people feel power through their anger and lack of forgiveness because they feel as if they are doing something about the situation.
“Sometimes we think, ‘if I forgive so does it mean that then they’re right and I’m wrong? Does it mean that I agree with what they did?’ It’s none of that,” Immaculee says.
People can register for the Immaculee retreat, “Healing and “Hope,” through the www.Immaculee.com website, or by calling Marilyn McGahan in North Platte at 308-520-4851. The retreat is $57 a person, or $95 for two people. She will autograph her best-selling books plus offer items through her retreat store. Special guest, singer and song writer, Anne Karto, will also be appearing with her. People of all faiths are invited to attend her retreat.
Even after almost 20 years after the Rwandan genocide, Immaculee prays daily, “I put my hands and my family in the hands of God. And He finds a way always. He finds a way.”