Forgiveness Continues
Hey sweetest friends,

I read your precious comments and stories while we were in New England this weekend working the Adam Bishop Classic Golf Tournament with our son and daughter-in-law. Adam was Kelsey's brother and he died in a car wreck 3 years ago while driving to New England from Liberty University for Mother's Day.

All of your comments on forgiveness have touched my heart deeply and I'm grateful for the words of wisdom you have shared.

Here are but a few of your comments from the last few days.
It is my prayer that each of us will remember the depth of forgiveness we have received from our heavenly Father and will graciously extend that to others.

I finally came to understand that God puts people in your life for a season and we learn from each friendship how to be more like HIM.

The situation has caused me to grow stronger and closer to my God. And has shown me the kind of "friend" I never want to be. ;)

I met you in 2007 at the first dinner of the She Speaks conference that year, and what you said that night has stayed with me: We are all sisters in Christ and are going to spend an eternity together, so we might as well start getting to know each other now!Forgiving our friends who hurt us can be so difficult, but knowing that we'll be spending an eternity together should help remind us why it's so important to do that hard work here on earth.

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." Lewis Smedes
"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." Mark Twain

I was so impressed by the Holy Spirit to write a letter of repentance and asking for forgiveness... since then I have been walking in the Freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing the weight that is lifted when we allow the Lord hand to work and allow for forgiveness to take root in our lives instead of the anger and bitterness. I never had a response to the letter that I wrote... and I Still see this family member... it's hard every time because that anger wants to rear it's ugly head... but I take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, and walk in forgiveness and freedom.

For those who have asked, yes, I have seen this lady a number of times since having coffee and she remains "cold and prickly".
I've learned two more important lessons through this.
I no longer ask "What did I do?" I ask "What can I learn from this?"
and
When the hurt returns, I've learned to replace the hurt by praying God's biggest and best blessings for her and her family.
It's been a growing exercise and it has yielded a depth of peace I've rarely experienced.

What subject would you like to discuss next?




1 Comments:

Blogger Chef Diane said...

Those were great quotes on forgiveness.

I personally would love to hear some conversation about "acceptance and acting on change."
When you know with every fiber of your soul that you must accept something and move on. But there are things that prevent you from accepting, let alone acting on the change. Does anyone else get stuck?
How do you get unstuck?
I stand still and wait on the Lord's timing. I need scripture to lean on.
Just a thought from me.
Diane

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