Forgive
I spent some time last night on the phone talking to my youngest daughter. She recently made a poor choice and hurt someone she really cares about. The consequences of her actions have also caused her grief and she longs to go back and make a better choice.
But life does not give us "do overs" and often in the aftermath of our mess, when we realize our folly, it is easy to berate and belittle ourselves. With this thought in mind, I suggested she do two things.
1 - Get her Bible and her journal out and talk to Jesus about the situation.
Let's face it, we all mess up. We say and do things that we later regret. But, even in these times of hurt and despair, Jesus is with us. He can help us heal and learn in every situation.
To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill.
Psalm 3:4 NIV
In the book of Psalms, we are frequently reminded to turn to God in our distress. There are no qualifiers to receive His help. It does not say He won't listen or help if we caused the problem. God knows what we've done and He wants us to come talk to Him about it.
Sharing our heart with it's joys and hurts is part of living with God. Every kind of circumstance we find ourselves in can be brought to and left with Jesus. He alone truly understands the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Even when our pain is the result of our actions, He is there ready, willing, and able to help us through.
2 - Forgive yourself.
This is the one thing I struggle with the most when I say or do something foolish. In fact, I've been known to lay awake all night putting myself down. I can keep the hurt and anguish stirred up and boiling for weeks because I keep dwelling on what I did. God is not like that nor does He condone this type of behavior.
Jesus died on the cross so that everything we do wrong is forgiven. The minute we apologize to Him for our mistakes, they are removed and completely erased as if they never happened. This does not mean we will not experience the consequences of our action, only that God will not and does not hold a grudge.
As I told my daughter last night, when you are done talking to Jesus about the whole thing and you have expressed your heart on paper, take the paper and destroy it as an act of letting go of any unforgiveness toward yourself.
I once took a class on forgiveness that had us carrying around rocks that represented our hurts and mistakes. After we had dealt with each one, we threw the rocks one at a time into the woods. Where they landed is where they stayed. Once the rocks were out of our hands, we could no longer hold that situation against ourselves.
Healing comes through forgiving.
Most of us find it easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves. But as new creations in Christ, we learn that in forgiving ourselves we are brought closer to Jesus because forgiveness allows His love to dwell with us.
Treat yourself like Jesus does. Forgive.
Heidirn
But life does not give us "do overs" and often in the aftermath of our mess, when we realize our folly, it is easy to berate and belittle ourselves. With this thought in mind, I suggested she do two things.
1 - Get her Bible and her journal out and talk to Jesus about the situation.
Let's face it, we all mess up. We say and do things that we later regret. But, even in these times of hurt and despair, Jesus is with us. He can help us heal and learn in every situation.
To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill.
Psalm 3:4 NIV
In the book of Psalms, we are frequently reminded to turn to God in our distress. There are no qualifiers to receive His help. It does not say He won't listen or help if we caused the problem. God knows what we've done and He wants us to come talk to Him about it.
Sharing our heart with it's joys and hurts is part of living with God. Every kind of circumstance we find ourselves in can be brought to and left with Jesus. He alone truly understands the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Even when our pain is the result of our actions, He is there ready, willing, and able to help us through.
2 - Forgive yourself.
This is the one thing I struggle with the most when I say or do something foolish. In fact, I've been known to lay awake all night putting myself down. I can keep the hurt and anguish stirred up and boiling for weeks because I keep dwelling on what I did. God is not like that nor does He condone this type of behavior.
Jesus died on the cross so that everything we do wrong is forgiven. The minute we apologize to Him for our mistakes, they are removed and completely erased as if they never happened. This does not mean we will not experience the consequences of our action, only that God will not and does not hold a grudge.
As I told my daughter last night, when you are done talking to Jesus about the whole thing and you have expressed your heart on paper, take the paper and destroy it as an act of letting go of any unforgiveness toward yourself.
I once took a class on forgiveness that had us carrying around rocks that represented our hurts and mistakes. After we had dealt with each one, we threw the rocks one at a time into the woods. Where they landed is where they stayed. Once the rocks were out of our hands, we could no longer hold that situation against ourselves.
Healing comes through forgiving.
Most of us find it easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves. But as new creations in Christ, we learn that in forgiving ourselves we are brought closer to Jesus because forgiveness allows His love to dwell with us.
Treat yourself like Jesus does. Forgive.
Heidirn
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