A new friend of mine has a wonderful blog on holding grudges and forgiveness titled:
Satan Seeks A Gap Called Grudge. The blog is an excellent read and, along with some experiences I have had this week, has had me thinking. (I know, I know...you thought you smelled 'smoke' right?)
But, seriously, we all have our STORY ~ our testimony. We have mountains/victories and we have valleys/defeats. PAIN is typical in the valleys and with PAIN is usually something (or someone) that needs forgiven.
Sometimes forgiveness is easy and sometimes, not so much. Sometimes forgiveness takes a second and other times a life time.
WHY is FORGIVENESS so hard sometimes? I suppose there are a lot of reasons and with each circumstance and personality comes a different ‘variety’ of answer.
This morning I was pondering these things and what came to me is that our “UNforgiveness” has at least two purposes for existing.
1. It steals our PEACE ~ 'robs' us of our 'contentment' and
2. It restricts our FAITH in the Hand of Christ that has HEALED us.
Ok, I take that back ~ it (UNforgiveness) has ONE purpose of ‘existence’ ~ to separate us from our Father.
So, what do we do with it? How do we get rid of it? DO we get rid of it?
I’m not sure if I really have any of the answers (I’m not a therapist, nor do I “play one” on MySpace) but, for me, I am having to give myself permission to grieve. So often, we don’t allow this process to happen. We think that WHEN we do that we are automatically telling ourselves that we have NOT ‘forgiven.’ That may be true in some circumstances, but not necessarily true in others. What’s NOT healthy is when we don’t allow ourselves to grieve.
More importantly, perhaps, is to OFFER UP your pain.
“Offer up” means a variety of things among my Christian friends. To some, it is an “offering” (to God) similar to what was “offered” on the cross. To others, “offer up” means simply to let it go ~ much easier said than done.
Another type of “offering up” is to give God the pain to make it HOLY.
HUH?! Bear with me on this one.
I’m not sure if this will make sense to anyone but ME, but to make the pain HOLY would be to PURIFY it. When we ‘purify’ something, we “burn off” the ‘dross’ right? The same can be done with your pain.
In prayer, ask, “What is the purpose of this pain in YOUR Will and Purpose, Lord?”
Who cares about the PURPOSE? You ask. What’s the point?
To “offer it up” and SEEK the “purpose” is to look for the BLESSING. Once the BLESSING is revealed to you, if you want to spend ‘energy’ spend it giving praise to God for the BLESSING.
"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your
suffering." [Matthew 5:34]
BE HEALED
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