Day 10: What has Jesus taught you as a wife, mom or friend?
Christ embodies love, sacrifice, kindness, humility, surrender, compassion and so many inspiring traits, but the one thing that Jesus has taught me more than any other is forgiveness.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
Forgiveness is freedom!
We forgive people for their actions. We forgive life for throwing curveballs our way. We forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We forgive God when we have moments that make us question our circumstances.
Choosing to forgive has made me a better wife. It makes my marriage fun and carefree. It means that even when we disagree, we can quickly get over it.
I love my husband too much to remain angry.
Choosing to forgive has also made me a better mom. Even though I am no longer with my ex husband, my daughter sees that we get along. As she matures, she will know that we loved her enough to forgive each other for the past. Too many children suffer because of divorce. The parents choose to stay angry, the kids know all of the details of the divorce, they are thrown in the middle of arguments and the children end up having issues of their own.
I love my daughter too much to remain angry.
Choosing to forgive has also made me a better person. Life gets complicated. I have made many mistakes in this life, but I forgive myself. I have given myself a chance to start over and I encourage others to do the same.
I love myself too much to remain angry.
Do not choose to be bitter, choose to be better.
We become bitter because we hold onto our hurts, but everyone has hurts.
Choose Forgiveness.
Forgiveness makes us stronger. There is a misconception that forgiveness makes us weak. That when we forgive we are giving in to another person that tried to hurt us or a hardship that tried to bring us down. People believe that if we stay angry we are tough, but anger does not make us tough. Anger makes us unhappy and unhappiness makes us weak, and let us be honest, angry people are no fun to be around.
I have not seen an episode of Doctor Phil in forever, but yesterday, the show looked intense and so I kept it on. At the end of the show, Dr. Phil said these words,
"You don't forgive the people that deserve it. You forgive the people that YOU deserve to be free of. You deserve to forgive them. It does not mean that what they did was okay or that he/she deserves your forgiveness, it means that you refuse to invest your life and energy on them! Tell yourself this situation needs a hero and it's going to be me."
It was such a powerful ending.
He is telling us to set ourselves free. Forgive, not for them. Forgive for us.
The easy thing to do, the weak thing to do, is to stay angry. Anger, hate, bitterness...those are easy emotions. Forgiving and loving those who have sinned against us is hard work, but it is possible.
To do this we have to remove our pride, but who needs pride anyway?
We don't need to be proud, we need to be humble, we need to be grateful.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
We need to realize that everything we have and everything that we accomplish is because of God.
Every good and perfect gift is from above. (James 1:17)
Christ loves us and He wants us to let go of our hurts.
He wants us to forgive.
He will give us the strength to do so.
Jesus helped me to let go of my hurts and to forgive.
If you have not done so already, I challenge you to let go of yours!
Do not focus on all of the ways that she/he hurt you.
Do not hold on to the fact that not all of your prayers have been answered.
Don't hold on to all of the illnesses that have affected your family.
Don't focus on the losses you have suffered.
Just let go and let God.
It really is empowering...
Allow yourself to forgive.
Allow yourself to let go.
Allow yourself to be free.
Allow Christ to work miracles in your life.
