Forgiveness

Tag

March 11, 2021

4 Offerings of God’s Goodness in Relational Hards There exist a vast array of hards we face in life. All of them bring varying levels of pain, uncertainty and testing. However, there’s something about relational difficulties that take pain to a different level. Unresolved conflict with another makes our soul feel raw. Tensions wear our emotions to a thread. Rejection causes us to doubt our value and purpose. Betrayal tramples our ability to trust. Abandonment leaves barren land within us....

October 31, 2019

A Springboard Truth toward Forgiveness

A hard brought on by the actions of another leaves us gritting our teeth and fighting feelings of vengeance. A hard brought on by a fellow believer adds a whole different level of hurt, perhaps coupled with disbelief and anger. Knowing we share this journey with real people who have real issues, just like we do, comforts us. However, when an attitude or weakness in them hurls pain our way, the sting is a bit sharper and the hurt a...

August 15, 2019

Dealing with Repeat Offenders

Some days a hard develops just showing grace to rude strangers. To be forgiving to an acquaintance being “all about me”. To tolerate a slight from someone we respect. But. A real hard ensues and intensifies when needing grace and forgiveness, again, for one close to us. For one we have walked this journey with for years. Whom we know well. Who knows us well. We face the hard of showing grace when challenged with “another”. Another display of selfishness....

June 27, 2019

3 Steps to Center Your Wandering Heart

Tho many hards roll in through no invitation or fault of our own, some are the direct result of choices we make; paths we choose. These decisions culminate in a season of difficulty and hard. At the core of these hards runs a central theme: wandering. Wandering away from our Center. Taking our eyes off of Christ, letting our thoughts, and then our hearts, meander into fantasies of a better relationship, more eyes-on-me, or a glitzier life. We chase after...

June 13, 2019

3 Steps to Handle the Sin Drip

Sin. A dripping faucet. Unrelenting. Disturbing. Incessant. We no sooner start our day than it’s dripping. An angry word. A terse answer. Gossip. Hateful thoughts. Distrust. Judgements tossed at others. We repent from one as another takes birth in our thoughts. We say we’re sorry, yet an hour later repeat the same offense. Drip. Drip. Drip. Sin. Endless. Constant. I lamented to my God, agonizing that “I can’t shut it off. Sin just keeps dripping, Lord. No matter how hard...

May 2, 2019

The Answer to a Profound Question

The question is: “Who is God?” Perhaps the foundation of all questions. A basic, yet critical inquiry that echos through the hearts of generations. Has this question lurked in your mind or passed your lips? A solid answer exists. A disclosure not coming from man’s understanding, perspective or experience. But straight from God. His self-proclamation. You want to know who God is? He proclaims in Exodus 34:5-7, “This is who I am.”  “Then the Lord came down in the cloud...

January 31, 2019

How to Respond to Hurtful People in our Lives

We choose many things in our lives. What we wear to our chosen place to dine. Where we hang out. How we earn a living. But there are many things we do not choose. The weather each day. The family into which we are born. What crises and troubles befall us. Our tribe gathered this past week-end for a celebration. Posted pictures depict faces full of love and laughter. But each smile represents individuals with very different stories, living through...

October 18, 2018

Dealing with Rearview Mirror Living

Does your past ever haunt you? Are memories impossible to erase that crop up and shake you to the core, threatening to take your heart and mind on a bad road trip? Driving down the interstate toward our vacation destination, I found my turn at the wheel to be a stretch of road that rolled through some beautiful hills and valleys. Deep greens of the surrounding pine woods stood in contrast to the clear blue skies. Flocks of geese honked overhead,...