Posted on 05/10/2005 9:17:20 AM PDT by mhking
Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride whose disappearance triggered a nationwide search, has entered a voluntary medical treatment program.
According to a statement from the family's church, "Ms. Wilbanks entered a highly regarded, inpatient treatment program on her own volition to address physical and mental issues which, she believes, played a major role in her 'running from herself' as she described in a public statement last week."
Wilbanks entered the program late Monday. The location of the program and suggested duration of treatment was not disclosed.
Wilbanks was already undergoing professional treatment. On May 5, the pastor for the Wilbanks family, Dr. Tom Smiley, read a statement from Jennifer Wilbanks. In the statement, Wilbanks said she, "started professional treatment voluntarily," for the problems that led her to run away.
Dr. Smiley said the treatment was "professional therapy with certified, competent professionals." Smiley did not go into details about the treatment.
Wilbanks, 32, touched off an extensive search in April when she disappeared after leaving her Duluth, Ga., home for a jog just four days before her scheduled wedding.
Wilbanks turned up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She told police she had been abducted, but she later told authorities she took a bus to Las Vegas and then Albuquerque on her own.
Evidently there will be no forgiveness for the 'crime' she committed.
What a sad commentary on some here.
***
I think that's her problem -- she has been forgiven way too often without facing any real consequences for her actions.
And by the way, she hasn't really apologized yet unless you consider that lawyerfied statement an apology. If I were one of the people who spent time, money and other resources looking for her, fretting over her, worrying that she was maybe lying in a ditch somewhere with her throat cut -- I wouldn't consider that statement an apology. And I would want a real apology before I could even consider forgiveness.
Something old, something new.
Something stolen *cough* *cough* borrowed, something blue.
The Death Camp of Tolerance is one of the best.
It was in a church in Munich where I was speaking in 1947 that I saw him--a balding heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat, the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.Memories of the concentration camp came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment of skin.
Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. This man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!"
It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there. But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein--" again the hand came out--"will you forgive me?"
And I stood there--and could not. Betsie had died in that place--could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses."
Still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling."
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!"
For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.
---Corrie ten Boom.
LOL!!!
Then Jerry Springer
And with all the best drugs.
Is it fair to say she's off her gob?
I'm glad she's getting the professional help she needs.
I think we will all be disappointed when she never makes a public appearance, and prefers to remain unseen.
"Off her gob" is a useful description too.
Regards, Ivan
So you're suggesting that it is not typical for a female to behave in this manner.
Hmmm..... an interesting thesis.
; )
I was less than impressed with him too. But the pastor who has been seen since Jennifer returned is a different one. Older, wiser and a lot more mature. He is Rev. Tom Smiley, I believe. He is NOT the one who counselled them. They might have been better off if Rev. Smiley had done the counselling.
I couldn't agree with you more. That doesn't mean that she should be exempt from consequences; in fact, just the opposite. But she deserves compassion. Without God's grace, any of us could find ourselves in a difficult position.
I won't be disappointed for her at all. She needs peace and quiet and away from public scrutiny. I think her way is going to be difficult enough as it is.
> If I were one of the people who spent time, money and other resources looking for her, fretting over her, worrying that she was maybe lying in a ditch somewhere with her throat cut -- I wouldn't consider that statement an apology. And I would want a real apology before I could even consider forgiveness.<
You might consider what these people have that you don't.I know many of them.They did not expect anything when they went to look for her except her safe return.Now that they have it you want them to turn their back on a sick young lady and be upset their prayers were answered.
"...The Runaway Barmy Bride..."
You've just come up with the future title for the Movie of the Week.
...around the bend...off her twig...
That's good news, indeed. Someone's showing some maturity and wisdom here.
To be honest, I haven't even followed this case. I did see the pastor who had been doing the counselling on TV in the only coverage of this story I saw.
That man drove me nuts. Apparently he was the assistant pastor of the church John attends. Rev. Smiley is the senior pastor of the church the Wilbanks family attends. I know nothing of the two churches, but I wouldn't want the earlier pastor representing my church publicly.
STONED TO THE BONE
Good luck to her in overcoming whatever it is she needs to overcome......
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