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Saturday, December 23, 2017

25 Days God Given Gifts - Day 23 - Forgiveness

Be kind and compassionate to one another, 
forgiving each other,
 just as in Christ God forgave you. 
Ephesians 4:32 



When I was in my early 20's, I was struggling with the emotional turmoil of an older woman who hated me. She had been told lies about me and chose to believe them. It was at that time I learned a hard lesson about forgiveness, and praying for people that had wronged me.  

This woman did not ask me to forgive her and she was never remorseful for the hurtful things she said to me, but I chose to forgive and to pray for her. In turn, it released me from bitterness taking root.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (NKJV) 



When we harbor resentment and hatred in our hearts, we’re hurting ourselves and those that love us. Healing can’t begin until you reach a point of forgiveness. In 1999 Craig Scott was in the library of his high school – Columbine, when two shooters massacred his close friends and classmates in front of him. 

He didn’t know until the next day that his sister Rachel Scott had been one of the first students killed in the cafeteria. He tells how hatred and bitterness took root and consumed him. A mentor shared some life changing words with him.

Forgiveness is like setting a prisoner free and finding out that prisoner was you. 

Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
Luke 6:28 (KJV)

I’ll close with a very moving video of a dear woman of God, Corrie Ten Boom. As a Holocaust survivor, Corrie endured horrific circumstances while in the concentration camps. She tells in her own words, a situation where she came face to face with a man she did not have the human strength to forgive.  

He extended his hand to her and asked forgiveness.  Listen to what she did when faced with this difficult situation.   If you don’t have time to watch it now, please come back to it.  It’s about 7 minutes long and well worth it.





If you aren't able to view the video above, you can find it here on you tube:

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I hope and pray if bitterness and resentment has taken root in your heart, you’ll consider these scriptures and seek God's help in forgiving.





If you'd like to see all the posts in this series so far, you can follow this link:
25 Days of God Given Gifts


This link will take you to a free pdf that goes along with this series.
25 Days God Given Gifts & Scripture 

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2 comments:

  1. thank you for this reminder - forgiveness is so powerful as when we forgive, it releases the other person to God too, as well as freeing ourselves
    Blessings
    Maxine

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  2. How did I miss this?! That is a powerful message from Corrie ten Boom...”thank you, God, that your love is far greater than my hate” puts things in perspective. I remember reading “The Hiding Place” for the first time years ago at the lake. It was so moving that I read passages aloud to my mother and sister and we would weep over them. One of those passages was about the story she tells here of being stripped and then of her sister reminding her that Jesus had hung naked on the cross for them, for all of us. I have more to say about this precious lady, but will spare you. 💛

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