As some of you may know/remember I suffered a home invasion while a friend of over a decade of both mine and my late wife's was over with her 3 year old daughter, when the robber took her at knife point and made her tie me up while he ransacked my house for basically all I had.
Well as of Wednesday the police made an arrest. Actually they made two. The robber and my "friend". Turns out she planned the whole thing. She used her child as a prop for the robbery, masterminded the whole lot, and the robber turns out to be her boyfriend (while telling me she was single the whole time).
I haven't had word on what was stolen being recovered yet. I can only hope the sentimental family items like my wife's jewellery will be at a minimum. Everything else I've basically replaced already.
She confessed to it too. She's now facing a robbery charge and conspiracy to torture as well, and will likely get at least few years jail time as a first time offender. Her boyfriend is getting far more time as a repeat offender.
And now I'm in a quandary. As a Christian I remember the Lord's prayer - "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". I remember Christ's teachings - Let ye without sin cast the first stone. I like, all of us, are sinners in some way. And yet... The betrayal and perhaps worse, to expose a 3 year old girl to such malfeasance.... How do I forgive such evil being done to an innocent child? I report on far worse traumas, to be sure, but to experience the same is a shock and a half. Part of me beginning to wonder if God has taken plotlines from Guy Richie of late when it comes to my life, and to see the act she pulled on the day... Let's just say she deserved an emmy or an Oscar.
Still, justice is coming for those that took advantage of my kindness and consideration and tried to use it to their own gain. The woman who did this has destroyed her own life effectively beyond anything I could do to her as vengeance. Her ex will likely take her daughter from her, which was purportedly her greatest fear (or that was what she told me, now I think it was all lies of course). Her son, an absolute star of a lad, now has to live knowing his mother is basically capable of such evil.
The Lord moves in mysterious ways and helped me dodge a lethal bullet this time.
As I read your first paragraph, in my mind I had a feeling she was involved because how many robberies have we seen where one of the victim is made to tie up their fellow victim ?
I am glad they have been caught. Forgiving is not for them, but for yourself. If you are not able to forgive her, it will fester inside you turning into an anger/resentment etc and eventually hurt your own soul.
Forgiving is also not the same as letting her get away unpunished. You have to do everything needed to ensure she gets the correct sentence and her child is taken by that child's father. You can do all that without resentment or anger, and purely out of compassion for that child and for all future victims of this person.
Remember, this "friend" is a very evil person and her reckoning will be with God.