"I speak for myself here when I say Brian, I forgive you,” Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, said, speaking Friday at CrimeCon, a true crime convention in Nashville. “I needed to release myself from the chains of anger and bitterness, that I refuse to let your despicable act define the rest of my life."

Sounds like someone who is wishing to give up their bitterness and get on with their life.

A summary of the saga:

Boy and girl go on a trip.
Boy kills girl.
Boy goes home to parents.
Boy fears being found out.
Boy kills himself.
Boy's parents are found not guilty of anything.
Girl's mother gets angry.
Girl's mother sues boy's parents.

Now girl's mother says she forgives...
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/02/us/gabby-petito-mom-brian-laundrie/index.html

But...
"Your atrocious decision to take a life, my daughter’s life, has ignited a fire within me, a fierce determination to protect the innocent from falling victim to monsters like you," she continued.

She also described his mother, Roberta Laundrie, as "pure evil."

"We were denied the chance to confront our daughter’s killer, to look him in the eye and express the profound pain his actions inflicted upon us,” she said. “The unbearable weight of Gabby’s absence is compounded by the sickening injustice of her murder remaining unpunished."

Forgiveness?

But hey, the guy's dead. What "justice" was she wanting? One wonders that if the guy had failed to end his life, laying in a hospital hanging on, she would want everything done to heal him so he could face "justice" and "punishment". Maybe even bring him back so he can face the electric chair?!

But the guy's dead. Is it justice she wants? Or is it to cause him to hurt, to cause him pain, to be harmed in some way? Basically to torture him?
Has she really forgiven him?

God tells us to leave it to Him..

Hebrews 10:30
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Do you think the Lord said leave any vengeance to him instead of doing it yourself, or do you think the Lord is going to do what the woman wanted to do the the guy?

The Lord said to leave it with Him, He will make all things right in the end.


We are all guilty. We may not have committed any horrendous crime, but we are all guilty of sin, none of us deserve eternal life.

We do NOT know many, many things about what's going on inside people.
We tend to see things mainly as they affect our lives and our emotions.

God, on the other hand. sees the end from the beginning. He sees all the steps in between.
He is working to save and woe back to Himself every person He possibly can win back by His love and grace. We don't know if that boy, had he been given different treatment could have been changed by the grace and love of God to be a faithful follower of Christ? There's so much we don't know.

But our job is to give our hearts and lives to Christ to take the bitterness and anger out of our own hearts and place our trust in Him. Do we have the same love for sinners in our hearts that Christ has? He is still in control and a time is coming when there will be no more sin. All who have received the cleansing and love of Christ in their lives will live forever with Him, (and that will include some we thought were hopelessly lost, and exclude some we thought were righteous)

Though we sorrow for our dead we have that awesome hope that they will have life again. However, most mothers will have serious anger and grief issues to deal with if their child has been wrongfully hurt abused or used. They want to do something that will stop such a horrible thing from ever happening again. It takes a lot of power from the Holy Spirit to turn their minds into concern for the spiritual wellbeing of the offender.

Thinking of about those who in their lives, rejected the love, grace and cleansing Christ offers?
They will realize what they lost, what they exchanged for those brief thrills that sin gave them. It will be torture for them to realize their stupidity. That boy already tasted some of that torture of remorse. He tasted it to the extent that he didn't want to live anymore, and killed himself Think how terrible it will be for those upon seeing that grand cosmic movie God will show from His White Throne Judgment seat concerning all that Christ did for them to save them, the pain He suffered so they could be free from sin's power and condemnation, only to realize they threw it all away, rejected it.
It will be a relief for them when God will end it all. They are not held in endless torment in some hell.

God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners, He longs and works to save, but He cannot save or cleanse if the person is not willing. Nor will He tolerate sin forever. There is a day coming when all sin, death, and sorrow will be no more. There will be no more desire for sin forever after.

And one thing -- everyone will say "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. "

God will take care of it or we would be striking down people right and left with like the disciples wanted, fire from heaven..