Difficult To Do

Do you know what I think is one of the most difficult things to do? It, among many other things, I'm sure. What I am thinking about is difficulty forgiving someone for negatively affecting you. It is also known as extending grace. You know, extending grace is pretty difficult for all of us to do. Think about it. Though it may be difficult, it is exactly what the Lord wants us to do. It's exactly what the Lord has done for all of us, and keeps on doing. Just a side note. I actually have a reminder in my phone that pops up every once in a while to extend grace. Maybe that would help? For me, the reminder to extend grace goes to my head. However, I can't actually say that I always do the extending of grace :(

God keeps on forgiving us. It doesn't matter how many times we will sin against him. If you have decided to embrace Christ as your personal Savior and Lord... If you admitted to him that you are a sinner... If you asked him for his forgiveness for your sins.... If you have acknowledged that you are a sinner and believe Jesus Christ was crucified died, was buried, and then rose to life for the Forgiveness of your sins.... Friends, have you decided to follow Jesus and know that one day we'll be spending eternity with him?

Fellow believers, if you are a true born again Christian believer you know what you must do. You must forgive and not hold that grudge over their heads.

What if they don't say they're sorry for hurting you? To be honest, I didn't know the answer to that question, at first. Or, maybe I really should say I didn't want to follow or even listen to the answer, I thought it was. My pastor just reaffirmed what I thought the answer was. I'm not telling you guys it's an instant forgiveness. The Lord knows I don't instantly give forgiveness. I don't know though. Everyone is different.  All I know and what I'm trying to say is though it may be difficult to forgive, we gotta do it

Let me share something with you guys. Hopefully it will encourage you. There was an incident where I refused in myself to show forgiveness. On the outside, people never knew because "I can act." However, I knew that wasn't right. I knew that I wasn't able to hide anything from God. He knew what was going on.

Then days turned into months, then years until the Lord led me to my sister in Christ who spoke to me and told me what I needed to hear. I know she was speaking to me with God's leading. I had to forgive. . To this day, I don't know if the Lord will put in my heart in the future, if I even need to outwardly forgive. What I needed to do and what the Lord wanted me to do was to forgive in my heart. Though that may seem like it would have been easy, it was not. Believe me it was not.

When I chose to forgive in my heart, it was like a huge burden was lifted from my life. Let me tell you what the Lord made me realize. Whatever it was that hurt me was allowed because God allowed it. God allowed it for reasons I don't understand, but we have to be assured that it is good for those who love him right?

God made me realize that he would give me the strength and he would comfort me when I was sad, when I was hurt, he was there! God will always be there!

Encouraging thought of the day:
Friends, don't be sad.  God will wipe your tears away!

Cece Winans: He's Always There