Meredith Spies - A Journey of Forgiveness

Welcome back to the podcast, I’m Jamie Baynes. Today’s guest is Meredith Spies. I was browsing through a local television station’s website one day and came cross a story that was titled, “He killed her mom. Nearly four years later, she gave him a hug.” I was intrigued and read the article. The story moved me so much, I sent Meredith a message through Facebook and asked if she’d be interested in coming on the episode. Despite me misquoting the article and thinking that her daughter had been the person killed, and me mispronouncing her name in this podcast only seconds after she told me the correct pronunciations, she agreed to share her story with me, and now with my listeners. After you listen, I'm sure that you'll be as amazed at Meredith’s story as I was. As I mentioned to Meredith in the podcast, prior to reading about her journey, I could never have imagined forgiving the person who killed a family member. Her journey truly opened my eyes about the power of forgiveness; not just the benefits of the person who has been forgiven, but for the person doing the forgiving. As Meredith said, what harm does it do to give the gift of forgiveness? If the person that you’re forgiving isn’t appreciative of it, so what? You still reap the benefits. Meredith is a wonderful, insightful person and I enjoyed having her on the show. I hope she’ll come back in the future and we can talk again. Until next time, please don’t drive while distracted; it just not worth it.This episode is dedicated to Meredith’s mother, Karen Giles.Take care of one another, and thanks for listening.