Forgiveness is freedom

"Forgiveness is the healing of wounds caused by another. You choose to let go of a past wrong and no longer be hurt by it. Forgiveness is a strong move to make, like turning your shoulders sideways to walk quickly on a crowded sidewalk. It's your move."

I found the above quote as I was contemplating a situation that has been in my life for a few months now. One in which I was extremley hurt by two of the closest people to me. I won't go into details, it's not needed. But I had cut off contact with them both and decided to work on moving on with my life. It wasn't easy. I missed them but at the same time the hurt was so fresh, and I was devastated. I went through all the normal emotions; shock, hurt, anger, bitterness, and even imagined if things had turned out differently.
As time went on, I thought about it less, life got busy and it was easier. But recently, God began tugging at my heart. Reminding me of the good times I'd had with these people. Reminding me of the grace He had shown me and expected me to show to others. Showing me that there was still something that needed to be done to heal the past, and it wasn't in distancing myself from these people. God began to whisper to me, and began to gently reassure me that perhaps it was time, perhaps I needed to do something to fix the situation, and that it wouldn't hurt, it would be ok.

I began to realise that though it wasn't forefront in my mind, it still affected me, and I was the only one being hurt, but no longer was anyone at fault but myself. The relationships had been ended in a way that left regret. And I realised I didn't want that. I wanted these people part of my life, or at least knowing that things were ok, that there was forgiveness. I knew that these two relationships might not be restored to what they once were, in fact they wouldn't be, they would be different, but we could start over and begin again, and regardless of the level or closeness of our friendships, there would be forgiveness, love, healing and a peace between us all.

So last night, I took the first step. I called. We talked for sometime. We didn't dwell on what had been, we forgave each other and moved on. We caught up. And it filled me such an amazing joy and relief. The grace of God was evident, and I knew He was with me, especially when I read what was one of the scriptures on my email this morning:

'Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.' (Lamentations 3:23 NLT)

He is so faithful, He is faithful to heal, faithful to forgive, faithful to provide, faithful to love unconditionally and everlasting. I know that this is the first step, and there may be times I need to come back to that grace, come back to that point of forgiveness, but I know that God is with me every step of the way, and I'm so thankful that He lead me to this point of restoration. It's not only going to restore friendships, but restore what I hadn't realised was broken in my life.

God has forgiven us, for everything we could possibly do, He has extended His grace to those who humble themselves and ask. And He has asked us to do the same to others, show the same mercy to others as He has shown to us. And He was right to ask us to do so. It's not about being walked over, but release and freedom.
God knew how profound it would be when we began to learn to forgive and let go. I encourage you to explore the beauty of forgiveness - both for yourself, and others.

Resisting Temptation

Was just starting to read James and these thoughts came to mind when I stopped over a couple of verses and I wanted to share them.

James 1:14 - we are tempted when we are drawn away from God by our OWN evil desires - we must remain close to God, walking with Him daily, through prayer and reading the bible, and laying down our will, for it is when we are away from God, that we are drawn to the world and our evil desires, and it is then that they give birth to sin.
So not only do we need to be in that close and constant relationship with Him, it also comes back to being fully satisfied in God as well, being content in Him and sure of who we are in Him - then the world and sin will have little or no pull on us for we don't need or want for anything but what we have in God - which is everything.
Verses 16-18 goes onto say that every good gift and perfect present comes from God, and to not be deceived (thinking we have to look elsewhere or that God won't give us good things). Here is the Creator of the stars in the night sky, who does not change or turn His back on us creating darkness, but instead wants to give us good and perfect gifts. Why? Because by HIS OWN will, God created us, brought us into existence, and chose to make us first place among all His creatures. WE are the most important thing to Him out of everything He created, we are His prized possession. And so can we assume that God wants to protect us with everything He has, and love us with everything He has? That He wants to guard us from evil and take care of us, and that He will always welcome us with open arms because we are His PRIZED possession - the very thing He cares most for out of all creation? We can more than assume, we can know with 100% certainty that this is the absolute truth.

There's a great line I love in a Rush Of Fool's song called Holy One:

'You're enough to satisfy, when the world has left me only dry, enough to save my life, when the world has left me here to die'.

Just Believe

I love journalling, I've always journalled. Writing down my thoughts, my feelings, prayers, anything really. But sometimes it can take a bit of motivation to really sit down and journal from the Bible. Read scripture and nut it out. But the rewards are worth it. God speaks through His Word without fail. I wanted to share something I read and what I got out of it.

Mark 5 vs 36:
Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid, just believe".

So the story goes, that this synagogue ruler, had travelled to find Jesus to ask him to heal his dying daughter. Jesus we assume, says yes, because He went with the ruler and began heading to his house. They're interrupted when a lady who has been bleeding for 12 years, reaches out with simple belief, and touches the hem of Jesus' garment, and is instantly healed. I won't go into that part here, but it's an awesome story too. So by now, some men bring news that the ruler's daughter has died. 'Don't bother coming', they say. They are telling Jesus and this father that it is too late and nothing can be done. How heartbreaking must that have been for the man. He had sought Jesus out, but it had taken too long, and his daughter had died. But then Jesus says this, "Don't be afraid, just believe'. He ignored the unbelief of the messengers, he ignored the circumstances, and simply said 'believe'.
I think so often, we put too much belief in the world and our circumstances, and too little in Jesus. We forget that He is operating from the Heavenly realms, and is not confined by circumstances. We forget that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. We forget that victory has been given to us. I look at this one little verse, these words that came out of Jesus' mouth, and I ask myself, why on earth do I live any other way? Why on earth do I allow this world and my circumstances to dictate my life so much? When I can simply believe? Knowing that my God is more powerful than anything on this earth, more powerful than any situation I will ever encounter? When my Saviour died on the cross, and defeated Satan and death by coming back to life 3 days later? Hello!
We don't get healed right away, or the problem comes back, we have no money in the bank, not enough to get by, people tell us 'don't bother, it's impossible' and our dreams and ideas come crashing down, we listen to the lies of Satan, and we look at our circumstances and sit in defeat. But Jesus is telling us, "Don't be afraid, just believe". Jesus is telling us, "I am here, I am with you, I know the circumstances, I know what people are saying, I know what it looks like. But none of that matters, ignore it all and just believe. Keep your eyes on me, and believe". It's as simple as that. Now, the thing in this story, is that Jesus had already decided to go with the ruler to heal his daughter. Along the way, he was held up, and the girl died. But because Jesus had already determined to heal this young girl, He wasn't going to let a little thing called death stop Him!
So what I get out of this is that if God has spoken something to your heart, if He has made you a promise, He will keep His word, not matter what comes along in between, no matter the obstacles, no matter the interruptions or the circumstances. God is above it all. If God has said He will do something, HE WILL DO IT! All he asks of us is to just keep believing. Fear has no place in our life (God has given us a spirit of love, not of fear or timidity).

I pray that next time we hit a block in the road, next time we're told we can't do it, next time we don't have enough money, etc...I pray that you and I can both stop, turn our eyes to Jesus, let go of our fear, and "just believe".