09 Sep Usawe’s Son was Brutally Murdered. Then God Spoke in a Dream.

In 1988, only a few years after the Rwandan genocide, Uwase* was at home when a group of soldiers arrived at her village. The soldiers came to her house and took her 19-year-old son out into a field. There they shot and killed him.

Uwase tells of her bitterness towards the soldiers afterwards. Her son was innocent of any crime… why would they kill him? Why her son? Desperate for answers, she prayed to God. 

That night she had a dream. In her dream, Uwase saw a vision of a house on a bridge. A road led from where she stood across the bridge and to heaven on the other side. On the house was a sign saying, “The House of Your Enemy.”

Next day, Uwase drew the vision in her diary. As she did, its meaning became clear… The way to heaven is through the house of your enemy. 

From that moment on, Uwase began praying for the man who’d murdered her son.

To her surprise, two months later her son’s killer arrived at Uwase’s door. He had been overwhelmed with guilt and had come to ask her forgiveness for his crime.

Amazingly, Uwase welcomed the killer into her home. She embraced him and fed him. Later, after hearing his story, she accepted him into her family. Effectively, she adopted her son’s killer!

Impossible Forgiveness

Uwase’s actions are difficult if not impossible to comprehend. Many would say her actions were unnatural. Forgiveness is hard at the best of times, but for the murderer of her son?

But God’s message to Uwase was clear and we should not be surprised by it. The Holy Spirit speaks to us as the continuing voice of Jesus, showing us how to follow him in the context of our own lives. And Jesus repeatedly taught about the priority and power of forgiveness. Since we have been forgiven by God, we must now pass on that forgiveness to others. It’s a two-way street. Forgiveness flows through us and sets others free. 

But the corollary is also true. If we don’t forgive others, we can’t receive God’s forgiveness. Holding onto wounds and grudges means that we become bound by them and end up suffering more. What’s more, the pain and bitterness gets passed onto all those around us. Retribution and payback can never stop the cycle of violence and hatred.

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Jesus, Matthew 6:14,15)

The Flow of Forgiveness

Uwase understood the importance of forgiveness as the way to freedom. The path to heaven’s kingdom was through the house of her enemy.

What’s more, it was not only Uwase and her son’s killer that experienced freedom through the decision, the flow of forgiveness continued beyond her household. Since Uwase adopted her son’s killer, she has told her story all over the country – even to the United Nations. Her example has inspired many to work for peace in Rwanda.

One act of forgiveness not only set her free; it set her perpetrator free, and then countless others across the land. The truth of Jesus’ teaching remains. May her decision inspire ours.

*Not her real name.