Our 2019 is half over today.
It sure has been a busy one. God has been working in me. One of the most important discoveries I have made is how critical to our well being is the act of forgiveness.
Forgive
Well that sounds like a simple enough act. I’m learning though that the old wounds took root in me and that they have a life of their own. I’m just the host here.
Except when they realize I’m in the act of pulling them out and working through all the pain they carry. It is hard work. Have you ever dug a stump out of the ground? Come back a year later and you will likely discover sprouts where the outer roots reached. Until every single piece is exposed to the light, there is always a piece of life remaining in the darkness. They are patiently waiting until another day to grow, waiting until you aren’t paying attention and they begin their work.
This happened enough times to me that I realized I was missing something. Searching the scriptures I came upon Colossians 3. Let’s read it in the Message version. Be sure to read the whole chapter in your favorite version. Looking at verses 9-17, we gain a powerful view of forgiveness.
“Don’t lie to each other. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve striped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ. So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. FORGIVE AS QUICKLY AND COMPLETELY AS THE MASTER FORGAVE YOU. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ – the Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
In my old life I proclaimed forgiveness. In my new life, I pray, asking God to show me the sprouts and the buried roots waiting to come to life disrupting my peace.
This is the only way I can keep my yesterday’s from having power over me and live today in the freedom Christ promises. Every day I have to face another wound (some tiny and some really big) and I’m learning if I boldly and immediately call them out, name them and trust, God’s power over them comes and they lose their power over me.
And I struggle with the new pieces because they know. They know me. But I’m learning the real power is Christ’s presence in me and I don’t have to be afraid anymore.
Remembering how God has forgiven me gives me the confidence that He will be with me through the process no matter how deep and dark those roots are.
So – here’s to today’s work clearing the path to a better tomorrow and our yesterday’s losing the dark memories through the act of forgiving. Here’s to our today’s trusting and moving in the power of Christ in us.
“Lord,
Please help me with the past. Help me to realize that I have to quit assigning blame to things back there so I can move to a place to be able to get better. Blame that will keep me from becoming who God wants me to be. An action that means that I have to choose to accept my part in what happened. I need to ask forgiveness – I have to swallow my pride and admit my faults and my weaknesses and my shortcomings – first to myself and then to others. I don’t want to blame circumstances or others decisions. I am where I am. Now what do I do about it. My goodness – that ‘s a tough one to swallow Lord.
God – I want to be the woman you designed me to be. If I live in the past, I can’t live better today or in the future. The hand of God brings about deliverance – God just as you delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians – deliver me from what would destroy me in this world.
God please take away my fear. Please take away my pride. I want to put my life in your hands.
Deliver me Oh Lord – in the name of your most precious Son – Amen.”
Living forgiving as I’ve been forgiven,
Janet