Shalom Saints,

When I answered the phone, I heard my Mom screaming a mournful cry, “Frances is gone! Frances is gone!” My mother was in shock and deep grief over the death of her good friend and travel buddy. Frances was my Dad’s first cousin. She was killed in November 2004 by a hit and run truck driver when she walked a block from home to help one of her seven sons (she also had one daughter) that was in a minor car accident in Detroit. The news story was on television. Frances was a well-known singer at several churches and a piano teacher;

Frances was a master of bling! She wore rings on eight fingers, always had on a necklace with earrings and her outfits were color coordinated with a matching hat. This is what I wrote in my journal at that time:

​

The funeral was huge; 500 folks; 20-30 pastors; 3 choirs. It was “church”. A lady with a purple dress, purple coat, and purple hat set it off with the opening song!

​

In spite of the elaborate send-off (even Frances’ casket had her name engraved on it), her family was in shock. They wanted to find the truck driver; who was never identified. Some even blamed the son who had called his Mom to come see the damage to his car. I felt sorry for the son. He was considered reckless by some of the family members long before Frances’ death.

Emotions were running high amongst family and friends. I even wanted to blame someone for this offense, loss in my life, and for me having to deal with these deep seated emotions right now. I wrote in my journal:

​

It was a shock to everyone! Her close friends were shaken. I was most affected by the suddenness of her death which caused me to reflect on my own life. I had anxiety about not living long enough to see Winston and Zoe become adults. During Church (Ma’s Church of Christ) the song He is Able was being sung… I broke down hooping and crying because the Lord spoke to me to give up my children to Him; He already had them and I couldn’t care for them or protect them as well as He can and does. I felt relief that I am each day learning to not worry or overthink on what I need to do now or Floyd needs to do if I should die while the kids are young. “He is Able.”

​

As I reflected back on this, I asked Floyd this morning, “Did you ever forgive the truck driver or Frances’ son for his peripheral part in Frances’ death?” Neither one of us could remember forgiving either of them for the blame we attributed to them.

Using Efraiym’s model, we forgave them, prayed for them and their families, and asked Yehovah to forgive us and free us from any bitterness that we have harbored in our hearts over the years.

Summary of the Teaching

During Arthur’s introduction, he brought attention to the “shifting” in the spirit that he became aware of some weeks ago. He believes the shifting is still being defined by the Saints’ testimonies of revelations and deliverances that they are receiving in their lives. Additionally, Arthur mentioned that Passover this year, 2017, coincides with the same calendar days in which Yeshua was crucified. Yeshua was crucified on a Wednesday and we are celebrating the Passover on a Wednesday evening.

Efraiym’s prayer to our Elohim included asking that His word, that we were ready to receive, be set-apart like Manna for us to eat and that it would give us spiritual nourishment. How eloquent!

This Part 2 teaching focused on how to stop being an offense and how we must forgive. Efraiym said he would give scriptural examples and encouraged us to ask questions during the Q & A session for more individualized responses to offenses and forgiveness. As Efraiym gave a review of Part 1, he reminded us that often it is too easy to remember the offenses and hold on to the unforgiveness. We must filter all of our actions through Yehovah’s word and forgive the trespasses of others.

One of the stumbling blocks to forgiveness is “not wanting to lose” and not wanting the offender to win. Listen as Efraiym gives some guidance in this area of forgiveness and in dealing with offenses within the body of believers.