Five Minute Friday: Mercy

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On a hot summer day, a week after my thirteenth birthday, I walked into my kitchen and saw my mother weeping. Her Bible was laying open on the table next to her, and in her eyes, I saw brokenness. I could feel the weight in the room. The air was thick with pain. I knew something really bad was happening. Suddenly, it felt as though my world was turned upside down.

My father asked my brother and me to take a ride with him in his car. Within moments of our driving away from our home, Daddy told us, “I’m leaving. I don’t love your mother anymore.” I was in shock. It wasn’t long before the pain began to rise to the surface of my heart.

My mother, who was and still is deeply in love with Christ, displayed His mercy in a way I had never seen before. In the days, and weeks following our devastating news, I watched closely as my mom responded with love and kindness. She spoke loving words about my daddy, saying, “We need to forgive him and pray for him.” She not only forgave him immediately, but she continued to love him in a Christ-like, unconditional love. She promised me that the Lord would redeem everything.

As painful as it was for me to experience such a loss and heartbreak in my childhood, I am grateful for that season in my life. It was during those youthful years that I began learning about the grace and mercy of Christ in a real and tangible way.

Now, thirty-five years later, I thank the Lord daily for His mercy and grace. It’s because of His loving-kindness and never-ending mercy that I can freely live in His love. I can love those who use and mistreat me.

His mercy enables all of us, as His followers, to love purely. His mercy heals broken hearts and makes life incredibly beautiful.

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36 (NIV)

I’m linking up for Five Minute Friday where Lisa Jo Baker and other awesome people write for five minutes flat with no self critiquing or no striving for perfection. This week’s prompt is: “Mercy.” Today, I had a hard time finding a good stopping point and wrote for about ten minutes.

The woman in the photo is my hero and amazing mother.

Five Minute Friday

6 Thoughts on “Five Minute Friday: Mercy

  1. AMAZING! I applaud your courage to write something so deeply personal. what a gift to have a mother who truly embodies the love of God. You don’t find many people these days that can demonstrate that level of forgiveness and MERCY. Thank you for sharing 🙂

    • Amy Lynne on September 14, 2013 at 12:27 pm said:

      Thank you, Dena, for your kind words. Yes, it is indeed a gift to have a mother that embodies the love of God. Have a blessed weekend!

  2. Thanks for stopping by MY blog, so I could hop over to yours! I love that you ended this by pointing us directly to the Mercy Giver Himself…the model we have that, because of Christ, we can extend mercy even when it is painful to do so. Much the way your sweet mother did in the wake of great loss. Thank you for sharing this! {from #fmf}

  3. Thank you for sharing with us such a beautiful picture of mercy even in the midst of your pain.

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