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Limitless Spirit
Feeling stuck in the daily grind? Longing for a spiritually rich and meaningful life? Limitless Spirit with Helen Todd is for those who crave a deeper faith, a greater purpose, and opportunities to serve beyond themselves. Through powerful stories and real conversations, this podcast explores how stepping out in faith—whether through mission trips, discipleship, or simply saying ‘yes’ to God—can change your life from surviving to thriving.
Limitless Spirit
What If Justice Never Comes?
Philip Todd, Chief Economist for the US Senate Homeland Security Committe, shares his extraordinary journey of faith and forgiveness after surviving a brutal, unprovoked knife attack in Washington DC two years ago. Despite life-threatening injuries and his attacker still awaiting trial due to mental health issues, Philip shares how this experience changed his vew of justice and what are his hopes for his attacker.
• Forgiveness as a deliberate choice prompted by the Holy Spirit rather than an emotional response
• The tension between personal forgiveness and societal justice
• How rejecting victimhood contributed to physical and emotional healing
• Wrestling with public pressure to politicize personal trauma in a politically charged environment
• The complexity of justice when mental health issues are involved
• The church's responsibility to be involved in both justice and rehabilitation
• Finding purpose and meaning through suffering
• The importance of wrestling with God during seasons of injustice
Join Philip Todd at the Greater Purpose Conference on April 11th in Branson, Missouri at Thousand Hills Resort where he'll share more details about his journey. For more information or to register, visit rfwma.org.
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Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with host Helen Todd, where she interviews guests about pursuing spiritual growth, discovering life's purpose through serving others and developing a deeper faith in Christ.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Limitless Spirit, the podcast where we explore the deep questions of faith, purpose and what it means to live out the calling of Christ in a broken world. I'm your host, helen Todd. Today we're tackling a difficult but essential topic the tension between justice and grace. What do you do when you have been wronged, when someone commits an act of violence, betrayal or injustice against us? How are we supposed to respond? Justice feels right, but sometimes it seems like God takes a long time to administer justice. Forgiveness feels impossible, and grace? Well. Grace sometimes feels unfair, but as Christians, we're called to both justice and grace. How do we hold these things together without compromising one for the other?
Speaker 2:My guest today knows this struggle firsthand. Two years ago, my son, philip Todd, who lives in Washington DC, survived a brutal and unprovoked attack by a stranger with a knife. His injuries were life-threatening and while he has made a full physical recovery, his attacker has yet to face trial due to ongoing mental health concerns. Despite all of this, philip and my husband and myself we chose to forgive. So this story is one of pain but also of hope, and today we'll explore what it means to pursue justice while extending grace, and how forgiveness can be both freeing and costly, and where we find peace when justice seems delayed or denied. Hello Philip, welcome to Limitless Spirit. How are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing good, thanks for having me record this interview with you, since this is the second year anniversary of the story that was very profound in your life, in my life as your mom, and I think that we have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 3:It sounds good. I'm looking forward to jumping in.
Speaker 2:So you know, in the life of a Christian there is this tension between justice and grace. In fact, if you think about it, these are two concepts that could be seen in conflict with each other, and I think that your story is a really great illustration. It's hard for me to feel detached from it and talk about it from the philosophical concept, but I really want to dig in into this aspect of your story. So it's an example of suffering and injustice, and when something like this happens, the natural instinct is often anger or desire for retribution. So, now that two years have passed, tell us how did you wrestle with those emotions in the aftermath of the attack?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a good question. I think my story is unique in some respect. I think my story is unique in some respect I think we talked previously through the entirety of the story but I think the unique part of my story is that God was gracious to me in the sense that the moment that my attack happened was probably the moment I was seeking God the most in my life and, of course, since then I've tried to seek God even more. But I think it was unique in the sense that I was my heart posture was probably different than it was prior. My level of obedience at that moment in my life was much larger and higher than it was in previous points in my life, and so I think the graciousness I was referring to from God in that respect was pretty immediately after my attack. I felt like the Lord prompted me and prompted you guys to pretty quickly forgive and pray for Glenn, and I think the process of doing that actually ended up, you know, in some respects shielding me from a lot of suffering like emotional suffering and trauma. Shielding me from a lot of suffering like emotional suffering and trauma. And you know, I remember, even in my visits to the doctor as I was recovering, all the doctors kept saying, well, do you have any traumatic dreams, do you have any PTSD, you know, are you able to walk without a lot of fear or, like you know, nervousness or anxiety or anything like that? And I kept saying, yeah, no, I haven't had any of it. I think it really is by the grace of God. And they said, well, even if you don't have it now, you likely will have this. Just be ready for it. Be ready that it's going to come and it's okay, because it's a very normal reaction. But, by the grace of God, that really never happened and I think that was again due to a few functions One, the Lord being gracious of allowing this event to happen in the moment that I was ready to handle it, for lack of a better term. But two, in the sense that God was gracious enough to prompt that so quickly in the recovery process that I think it did shield me from a little bit of emotional suffering. But I guess, to go back to your original question, was how did I wrestle with these feelings? I think there was a little bit of a wrestle, and maybe not the way that you would typically think. I think the real wrestle was.
Speaker 3:I live in a city that's very political and that's very quick to kind of capitalize on a crisis, and oftentimes that's a good thing, oftentimes that's a bad thing, and I think the verse that comes to mind when thinking about this is you know, be slow to speak and quick to listen. I'm paraphrasing. I don't remember the nature of my work because of the nature of this city. There was a lot of pressure, initially to have an opinion, to have a stance, you know, to speak out against crime or to speak, you know, on the other side, to speak against the political nature of people who want to crack down on crime or whatever it may be. And I think the thing that was difficult for me was, you know, at one point I didn't want to throw away a moment that was definitely God-given. At the same time, I want to steward that moment well and consider, like you mentioned, the tension between grace and justice, the tension between forgiveness and retribution, you know, both of which are important in all cases.
Speaker 3:But I think that was the tension that I wrestled with a lot during my recovery over the last two years.
Speaker 3:Frankly, I'm still wrestling with it in some respect of knowing when to speak, when not to speak, when to speak specifically on crime, when to speak specifically on forgiveness, and I think there's different contexts that are more appropriate for each.
Speaker 3:But it is a wrestle that I've been wrestling with for the last two years, especially because, in a lot of respects, this story isn't closed it's still an open court case, it's still an open discussion here in DC and, in fact, maybe even ramped up even more, and so I think it's interesting that my wrestle was not necessarily with the direct emotional trauma of the situation, but more about how can I be a proper mouthpiece for God in this situation, or how can I steward the one, the, you know, the giftings and the fact that he saved me from death in this situation and was gracious to me to prevent me from having emotional trauma or lasting injuries or whatever, in a way that's still honoring to him, you know, and honoring all of those gifts that he gave me, while still not, you know, letting this moment wisp away too. So I don't know if that answers your question or not, but I think that's one of the wrestles that I've been having now.
Speaker 2:Well, and it is very true that your situation is unique because your injuries were very, very serious, but you recovered from them in a remarkably short amount of time and seemingly with no consequences. So let's hypothetically and I hate to even steer the conversation in this direction but let's say that you did suffer, but let's say that you did suffer serious consequences in your health, whether it's physical health or mental health, do you think that your forgiveness would still remain? Do you think you would not harbor at least some resentment towards the person who, for no reason, caused you these injuries?
Speaker 3:Well, maybe I'll reframe the question real quick before I answer. I think one function well, one I should caveat there were challenges, I think, in my recovery and there were moments of frustration in the sense that you know, I essentially lost I wouldn't say lost, but you know my life halted for probably two or three months or so before I was able to come back to DC. And even when I was able to come back to DC, I had to, unfortunately, ease my way back into a pretty mentally and emotionally demanding job, and so that was a frustrating part about it, and I think there were some complications as well that I had this sort of mental focus and vision that we've talked about before and stuff like that. So it wasn't without a hitch. But I think the interesting part is that I think the question that you're asking here is had I had you know, had my experience been a lot worse, would the forgiveness still be there?
Speaker 3:I tend to think, because my injuries were so severe that the forgiveness had to have played a role within the speedy recovery. If that makes sense, I almost think the reverse where it's like, I think, the fact that I was able to forgive so quickly and again, that was all. I wish I could claim it as my own strength there, but it really wasn't. It was the prompting of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, but I think because we forgave so quickly, that's why it led to such quick recovery. I think had it taken me a little bit of time to muster up the courage and to wrestle with the frustration that I had towards him or the frustration of the situation, I tend to think that would be highly correlated with the length of time of my recovery as well, and you know it's not always that. I think every situation's different and sometimes even the people that are ready to forgive immediately are still gonna have long periods of recovery. So I'm not saying it's like a formula by any means, but I do think rejecting that mentality of victimhood is important in the recovery process, and I think that was true in my recovery process and true of a lot of people that I've seen go through similar rough situations.
Speaker 3:I think, understanding that you know, despite how dreary the situation may be, that God still has a plan and God can redeem those situations. I think that was one of the verses I kept quoting through my recovery is Genesis 50, 20, which is, you know what the enemy meant for evil. The Lord meant for good, for the saving of many lives. You know and he's speaking to Joseph in that specific situation which Joseph had it much worse than I did and Joseph had it much worse than many of my colleagues had. Yet he was elevated at the end of his career and end of his life to be in charge over Egypt so he could save the nation. You know it's he wasn't able to see that in the moment, but I think that's when I'm having the mindset that like and faith and trust in God that he can still redeem any situation is critical to your attitude and your your, I think your physical recovery in the midst of it too.
Speaker 2:So I don't know again if that answers your question, but I think that sometimes people struggle with forgiveness because they somehow feel that by forgiving the person who wronged them, they're erasing the consequences of sin. So what would you say to someone who feels that forgiving a person who wronged them means betraying their own pain or the pain of others?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And how do you differentiate between forgiving someone and excusing their actions?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think this is and this is kind of going back to your initial point about the tension between forgiveness and justice. I think it's interesting because when you look at scripture and you look at your understanding of God more broadly, I think there's this sort of tension kind of inherent throughout all of scripture. You know you have the tension between, like, the Paul points of grace and the James points of fruit. You know, faith without works is dead is what James says and Paul says. You know that grace abounds. You know faith without works is dead is what James says and Paul says. You know that grace abounds. You know, in all situations and stuff, that's one tension. You've also got the tension of God's goodness and God's greatness too, you know, and so you see this kind of in my opinion, a very similar tension throughout all of faith, and I think it plays out here too. I don't think that they're mutually exclusive, as much as the world would like to say that they're mutually exclusive. It seems to me that, yeah, for there to be true justice, there probably needs. Let me take a step back. I think there's two different responsibilities. For someone in my shoes, probably From my perspective, it seems like you have a responsibility to forgive, regardless of what justice looks like for that person or if he's received justice or if he hasn't received justice. Regardless of the circumstances, I think the responsibility is to forgive, because that's what the Lord, that's what Jesus taught us, that's the example that Jesus showed us. You know, and in a lot of cases Jesus used the analogy of turning the other cheek. You know when you're struck. My understanding of those passages is that Jesus is not saying turn your other cheek in hopes that that person will eventually receive what he's owed. You know, I think it's turn your other cheek in faith that God is going to redeem it. You know, redeem whatever you're going through and that God's going to honor your faithfulness in those moments of trial and tribulation. So I think that the importance of forgiveness is not it is intention with and not mutually exclusive to the concept of justice or the concept of consequences of sin, as you mentioned. The responsibility is not related. Your responsibility or our responsibility as Christians is, I think, to forgive in all cases. Forgive 99 times, as the Lord says, you know. Whereas I also think that, on the same token, to forgive someone does not erase the requirement for justice, it does not erase the need for society to impose justice, it does not erase the fact that God sees that as an injustice. You know, I think it's more of a point of understanding whose responsibility is whom, and I think the theme that you see throughout scripture is that our responsibility is to show the love of Christ. It's God's responsibility to take vengeance and to seek justice. And I say that maybe with some caveats, because I do think that there's a role that all of us can play in that process of justice and a role that we all should play in that concept of justice, and maybe we'll talk about that a little bit later as well.
Speaker 3:But I think that the primary responsibility we have is to exhibit the love of Christ at all times, and I think it is a wrong way to perceive Jesus as when he exhibits forgiveness or when he exhibits sort of the tenderhearted nature or characters of God, to see that as weakness. Because in reality, I think oftentimes and this was said by a lot of my mentors and I think I've seen it in a lot of other people's cases too oftentimes it takes a lot more strength to do something that culture would say you shouldn't, do you know? So, I think, despite not having an earthly reason to forgive somebody still choosing to forgive and give and trust God that he's going to redeem the situation often requires a lot more strength, and so I think it's often a dichotomy that shouldn't exist, even though I know the earthly society would tell you that that's a tension. Forgiveness and the fact that it could erase the consequences of sin, I think it's just a recognition that that's not your responsibility to administer the consequences you know.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of justice, one of the biggest struggles people have is when justice doesn't come on their timeline or doesn't come at all, and so, in your case, your attacker has not faced trial due to mental health concerns. So how have you processed that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's been one of the tensions. To go back to your first question, I think that's been one of the tensions that I've really wrestled with. You know, I knew that my original, my initial responsibility was to forgive, and then, at least the way I was first processing this, my thought was my immediate responsibility is to forgive. It's the justice system's responsibility to administer justice, and I think the way I've continued thinking about this is that I internally hold no ill will, no ill will towards Glenn, my attacker. I have truly, I think, by the grace of God and with the help of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit, been able to completely relieve myself of any hatred or frustration or anything like that towards Glenn. Yet, at the same time, I think the importance of justice is still there, in the sense that I was blessed in my situation with having a wonderful church, a wonderful community, a wonderful family. You know the means to make it through that hospital situation, the connections to navigate, all of the difficulties that come with working through that hospital system, and you know I could go on and on about all the blessings that I had. In the midst of this, I think it's also the case that there could be someone walking down that same street as me who doesn't have all of those benefits built into their life that would not have handled it as well, and I was millimeters from death. It could have been death for someone else too. So there's a function of justice that I think is important. Beyond the specific person you know, beyond me and in my case I'll just speak specifically to my case I think there's an importance of justice that's outside of how I feel or what my feelings are towards the situation. That's important. I think.
Speaker 3:The frustration of not seeing that justice is, I think, perhaps a selfish one. In some respect. It's one that I have. I'm not saying that I don't have it, but I think trusting that God is in control is the first thing that I've really had to grapple with. And then, on doing so, trusting that in the midst of this process, that where there's injustices in our system, where there's injustices in the way that Glenn is being handled or in the way that the case is being handled, or whatever, trusting that God will bring that to light and that there will be some movement taken. And so I think the tension that's there is that, yes, the justice system moves slowly, I think, typically, our justice system has done a pretty good job at administering justice, but I think, now being in the middle of it, the one thing I've realized is that things move really slowly, things are not always just as I would have hoped them to have been, and that the concept or the definition of justice is not always just as I would have hoped them to have been, and that the concept or the definition of justice is not always an easy one too.
Speaker 3:Because I think, you know, without getting into too many particulars, the difficulty of Glenn's situation is that he does have a lot of mental health concerns and a lot of those.
Speaker 3:While I'm not saying that he shouldn't be in prison or he shouldn't be in jail, I really do think he should because he's probably a danger to society.
Speaker 3:I think it's also the case that a lot of what probably happens in our prison systems is not necessarily going to fix his ultimate problem, which is his mental health and, from my perspective, his spiritual health more broadly. And so I think, understanding what justice looks like, I think justice in this case again, I don't want to speak out of turn or, you know, without knowing all the details yet, and a lot of those details are still being uncovered but seemingly someone who's a menace to society. Justice still would include prison or removing that person from society so that he can't or she can't inflict harm on anyone else. But justice might also be beyond that. There's a chance that it still may be unjust to just leave them in that situation without trying to address the other things that are going on. And I'm not talking about just a legal definition of justice. I'm talking about more broadly what a Christian American person or individual's concept of justice ought to be is what I mean more broadly by that.
Speaker 2:And while it is, for me personally, extremely frustrating how long this process is taking, I remind myself that God's timing is perfect and nothing is hidden before God and ultimately we have to trust Him that the ultimate justice will be given, Glenn, and on God's timing and on God's terms. So let's talk about this in the context of a church. So church often struggles to balance compassion for victims with the call to love those who commit terrible crimes, to love those who commit terrible crimes. So what do you think the church should be doing to uphold both justice and grace in a way that reflects?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a good question and I guess, to relate it to my previous answer, I think understanding what justice is is important in this context, because I think there's a legal and a societal definition of not just definition but but way of administering justice that's still right and righteous in many cases and still ought to be pursued, and oftentimes that literally means you know detention, or that literally means you know court case, or whatever it may be. You know the way we think of justice or criminal justice in the modern context. But I think where the church ought to play more of a role, and something that I've been a little bit more passionate about in this last year, is administering the holistic justice, or the remaining parts of justice that's not handled by our government, which in a lot of cases, I think that's what happens after someone like Glenn serves his full term and is released, you know, or what happens while Glenn is in prison too, you know, I think the church has a big role to play in that case, in the sense of like okay, if we really believe that God can redeem men and women, if we really believe that God can change hearts and minds and if we really believe that, as we've seen evidence of in scripture that God meets people in prisons, then the church should really be in the prison system as well. I think there's a lot of great ministries doing good work in the prison system and there's a lot of challenges to doing work in the prison system too. So I think what I would like to see is the church being on the front lines of that and the front lines of trying to figure out what it looks like, not just to correct the hearts and minds of people who have fallen into a life of crime, but also take preventative steps into preventing those people from falling into a life of crime to begin with and that's where I think the church can play a large role in is investing heavily in their communities, investing heavily in low income areas, investing heavily in prison ministry to investing heavily in what post incarcerated life looks like for those folks too, and I think there's a lot of ways that the church can jump in in that respect.
Speaker 3:That again, I think my situation was unique in a lot of ways, but I think that maybe if the church was a lot more involved, could have prevented a lot of cases similar to mine from happening to begin with.
Speaker 3:And that's where I think the church ought to be involved is I think the church really should be on the front lines of forming culture and the front lines of inviting and trying to bring these people that otherwise would fall into a life of crime into their communion with Jesus, and so I think that's what I'd really like to see the church do in terms of administering justice, and I think there's a lot of other things that we could add to that too.
Speaker 3:I think teaching the concept of reconciliation, teaching the concept of forgiveness and teaching the concept of, also civil participation, participating in the justice process from a governmental and legal perspective too, is, I think, an equally important aspect of this that the church should also be promoting. I think so. I think I personally would like to see the church involved in all aspects of this, and I really think that if we want to see a just society, that's not possible without the church, and in a lot of ways I think the church has been a little slow to join this conversation and trying to neatly stay in the lane. That's comfortable to them, which is great, but you know, there's room to expand those tent pegs into different functions of society that I don't think the church has typically been as involved in as I would like to see.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's a whole different conversation because that leads to many follow-up questions that I would have to all of this on what is the role of the church in society. But let's jump back into your story. So do you feel that this experience changed the way you see justice and grace in your life and in the world in general?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3:I think one thing that I mentioned at the beginning of the call was that there was, particularly because the nature of my work is very political and I live in a very political city I think that there was immediately a lot of microphones shoved in my face right after my attack, and so, I think, trying to understand exactly well one.
Speaker 3:I think the first big lesson that I learned in this case is that I think justice is not always an easy concept to grapple with, and I think, understanding what justice is I think justice is objective, of course justice is. I think justice is objective, of course, but I think that what an objective form of justice looks like can look many different ways depending on the case, depending on the person and depending on the circumstances, and so I think that's one thing that I've learned is that I think I used to have a very black and white view of what crime and punishment ought to look like in society, and in a lot of ways, that hasn't changed and a lot of other ways that has changed. And understanding you know this is a messy process.
Speaker 2:Well, give me some examples, some examples here.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you know, for instance, the immediate reaction in my case was that, okay, you've got a lot of crime at that in that particular year and it's ebbed and flowed since then, but in 2023, I believe crime, and specifically violent crime in DC, was at an all-time high. I think the immediate reaction is like, okay, you know, this is we need to, and I still think we do. I'm not discounting these policy measures by any means, but I think my case, being joined with a lot of other cases that happened that year, was a part of the political momentum in that particular cycle. We need to really crack down on crime in DC. We really need to add to, you know, the sentencing. We need to add more judges, we need to add more police officers. We need to do, we need to spend more money on our police force and stuff like that. All of those might be true and I think a lot of in a lot of ways, lot of ways. Those are all great things, but I think when you stop and think about my particular situation, it becomes a little bit more complex.
Speaker 3:When you look at Glenn's situation, it wasn't that he was just I mean, he wasn't part of a gang. As far as we know, he wasn't part of the typical definition of what violent crime in DC looks like, which is usually gang violence or, in other cases, oftentimes the youth in DC. He was a man who had served a full sentence in prison. He didn't get out early, he didn't get, or as far as we know I mean details are still coming for that but as far as we know he served the full sentence. As far as we know, he wasn't problematic inmate, as far as you know again, all these details are still ongoing. But I think the unique part about Glenn is that, seemingly fine, served his sentence, released from prison, from on paper, the criminal justice system worked, you know, in his case. But then 12 hours later, 24 hours later, he randomly stabs a person walking by on the street for no cause, for no reason or anything like that. And so trying to understand what justice looks like in his specific circumstance or with my specific situation, I think is much different than your typical gang violence or you know what is it? Teen troublemakers and stuff like that, you know. And so I think trying to understand exactly what the one, what my role to play is and, two, what are ways that we can really get to the root of the problem with Glenn, which I don't think is done through your typical measures.
Speaker 3:When you're thinking about criminal justice more broadly With Glenn, it seems to me that a lot of that is like, in my opinion, still really needs a relationship with God, a relationship with Jesus, and then from a more kind of secular perspective and not just secular but from a maybe more rationalist perspective he really does need a lot more mental health treatment and stuff, and maybe there's another procedure that needs to be administered before he's fully released in society and left to his own devices and stuff. And so, you know, there's a lot of conversation about like halfway houses and stuff like that, and I think justice in this case is trying to understand exactly the institutional framework behind this situation and what can be done within that framework to prevent something like that happening from someone who's less fortunate than I, either ending their life or putting them in a position where they may never recover. Fortunate in my situation, but I really in many ways, the severity of the injuries, the severity of the situation would have left many, many people without answers after this, and so I think justice in that case is trying to figure out exactly and have a little bit more empathy for the specific situation and willing to get more into the weeds on the specific situation than just staying at the top level and taking the easy political low-hanging fruit there, and so that's just one example of ways that I've been grappling with the situation is. It's not a clean answer, it's not a clear-cut answer. Yes, justice still needs to be administered.
Speaker 3:Yes, I want to see justice in the court case in particular. Yes, I want to see him probably sentenced and put back into prison, frankly, or at least, you know, in some capacity not out on the streets, I should say. But I also would love to see Glenn brought back to full health and Glenn brought back to his full mental capacities and Glenn brought to a relationship with Jesus at some point. And, frankly, I would love to meet him personally and pray for him personally too. Right now he's not in a state where I can do that, and so I think to me that's what justice looks like in Glenn's case, and there are thousands of different permutations of what crime looks like in this city, in this country, in this world, and I don't think it's an easy or clean answer to know what justice looks like in each of those cases.
Speaker 2:So if someone listening today is battling with the weight of injustice, maybe in their own life or with what is happening in the world, what encouragement would you offer?
Speaker 3:I think one thing that gave me a lot of peace throughout my situation is that when you look throughout Scripture, you know I'm doing my year through the Bible again this year and I'm in just past the passage with Jacob wrestling with God, for instance, and that's, I think, maybe the first of many examples throughout Scripture of there being fruit when you choose to lock in and wrestle with God. You know, I think that's one way to form the analogy, for all the times you see it in Scripture, whether it be Job, whether it be you know, whether it be Paul, or whether it be so many different examples throughout Scripture of people who may not know what's going on Joseph, for instance, who may not know what's going on at the moment, who may not know what's going on at the moment, who may not know what's going on in their specific situation, and from all kind of aspects that you can tell it looks like hope is lost. It looks like this is awful, the world has won, the devil is afflicting you and stuff like that. But I think, putting your faith in Jesus, I think, and putting your faith in God and choosing to wrestle with God in those circumstances, I think one thing that's striking to me as I read through the Psalms is how many times that David was in a position of anguish. You know, and I think that position of anguish is included in Scripture for a reason, and I think that's because sometimes you get the most fruit from deciding to still choose to seek God in those situations, still choosing to bring your burdens to the Lord in that situation.
Speaker 3:And you know, one of my favorite verses in Proverbs 3, 5 says trusting in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Speaker 3:And I think that's the most interesting part of the verse is that you know, God gave you a mind and we often use that mind to think through the situations and how things ought to be, or to think about what justice looks like in our situation.
Speaker 3:But oftentimes, I think the real fruit comes from choosing to trust God, despite not understanding why this is happening, or not understanding what's happening or understanding where the hope may be in this situation. Placing your trust in God and having faith that God will, you know, make your path straight in the end is is, I think, where the real fruit comes from. You know to to quote like the old, like Greek mythology and the Odyssey, for instance, sometimes the greatest benefits come from the journey and not necessarily the destination itself, you know so. So I think I've grown a lot and matured and and a lot of ways in my relationship with God because of the process of grappling with these questions, not necessarily because I made it out on the other end, okay, you know, which is just the added benefit of going through that process. So I think that's my encouragement.
Speaker 2:I am very grateful that you made it out okay.
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 2:And I pray to God every day for this outcome. But I do pray for Glenn as well and, just like you, I hope to see. I believe there is a reason why God allowed this to happen in your life and I want to see the fruit of that in his life. For whatever reason, his life was connected to ours and I want to see the fruit from there.
Speaker 3:And the only thing I'll I'll add to that is, you know, I think that the biggest piece of advice that I mentioned is is that I think sometimes god invites you to wrestle with him and that's when, when he, when you receive the the biggest insider revelation of what he's doing, and and choosing to to kind of lock in and do that is, I think, what God invites us to do sometimes, and you know, I don't have an answer for why bad things happen to good people, but sometimes God reveals his full glory in those situations, and I think that's been true in my case. I think.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for this word and I hope it will serve as an encouragement to our listeners. Word and I hope it will serve as an encouragement to our listeners. Philip's story is a powerful reminder that forgiveness is not just an emotion. It's a decision, and the one that requires faith, surrender and trust in God's justice. By the way, philip will be sharing a more detailed version of his story at the Greater Purpose Conference on April 11th in Branson, missouri, at the Thousand Hills Resort.
Speaker 2:For those of you listening, I know some of you are struggling today with the weight of injustice. Maybe you've been deeply hurt and the idea of forgiving feels unbearable. Maybe you're waiting for justice and it's not coming in the way or at the time you expected. If that's you, I want to leave you with this truth Justice belongs to the Lord, his justice is perfect and His grace is relentless. When we forgive, we're not saying that evil doesn't matter. We are entrusting it to the only one who can judge rightly and redeem fully.
Speaker 2:If today's episode resonated with you, share it with a friend, leave a review or reach out to us with your thoughts. Our email is podcast at rfwmaorg. I hope to see you at the Greater Purpose Conference on April 9th, 10th and 11th in Branson, missouri, at the Thousand Hills Resort. We have incredible speakers lined up for you. Wonderful worship, just a time for you to be refreshed in your faith and perhaps connect to your greater purpose. Please check out our website, rfwmaorg for more details and how to register. Thank you for listening. I'm Helen Todd, and until next time may you walk both in truth and grace transformation.
Speaker 1:Christ called his followers to make disciples across the world. World Missions Alliance gives you an opportunity to do this through short-term missions in over 32 countries across the globe. If you want to help those who are hurting and hopeless and discover your greater purpose in serving, check out our website rfwmaorg and find out how to get involved.