Be an Angel: 5 Days of Inspiration and Encouragementናሙና

After [my husband] Mark and I began developing The Bible miniseries, we spent weeks casting each critical role. Finding actors to play two of the most important characters proved quite difficult. God miraculously connected us with Diogo Morgado, who took on the role of Jesus. This was after I sent an email to prayer warriors with the subject line “Looking for Jesus” (true story/actual subject line). Still, we had not found an actress to play Christ’s mother, Mary, as adult. After many frustrating hours scrolling through resumes and headshots, my husband said with perfect frankness: “I don’t know why you’re missing the obvious. You need to take this role yourself.” I was shocked but agreed to pray about it. That night, God filled me with a knowing peace—this was His invitation.

Never had the incomprehensibility of Jesus’ final words struck me so forcefully. In the moment of his torturous execution, Jesus forgave. Because I was playing Mary, I had to imagine what it might have felt like for this mother to hear her son say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The honest reality hit me: I’m not sure I could have forgiven while watching my son savagely executed. But if Jesus chose to forgive, how can I harbor unforgiveness toward someone?

Most people acknowledge that they’d like to forgive . . . at least eventually. Cognitively speaking, we know that holding on to our wounds doesn’t actually help us. But we usually need time to forgive. Jesus forgives instantaneously, but it sometimes takes us a while to lay our burdens down.

True, I can’t forgive like Jesus, but I can forgive because of Jesus. I can forgive because He made it possible. All of us can forgive because He first forgave freely, lovingly, completely.

Be an Angel: Is there someone you know who is currently suffering from their own resentment and bitterness? How might you be like an angel who comforts and strengthens that person as they start to forgive?