Take the torn and battered heart that is your own and allow it to heal, seeing the beauty that is all around you!
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http://livinthelove.org/2015/05/forgive-today-love-tomorrow/
Showing Love Through Forgiveness
As I grew stronger, I felt challenged to take "ACTION" with the knowledge that I had been given, and show LOVE THROUGH FORGIVENESS.
Before we move on, I would like to take a moment to ask what your definition of love is. Take a moment to think before reading on.
According to I Corinthians 13:4 love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things; love never fails.
Looking closely at this verse, one can clearly see that love is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling, but that it requires something from us - ACTION. Love is choosing to think of what is best for someone else. It’s shifting our attitudes and actions from selfishness to selflessness.
There are many times in our daily life when we are presented with opportunities to show love. Nothing gets my blood flowing more than when I am running late and while driving someone in front of me is going ever so slow. Without warning I feel anger brewing, trying to raise its ugly head. It takes all that I have to calm down so that I don’t use words that would not be very nice at all. This is a perfect opportunity to show love, to stop and think about the driver of the other car. Maybe they just lost someone they love, or maybe they lost their job. I was reminded that everyone’s actions are caused by a reaction to something they are going through in their life.
Who would like to take a moment to think about a situation where you were able to show love at a difficult time instead of anger?
As we can see in I Corinthians 13, love has many aspects: kindness, patience, and lack of arrogance, selflessness, not seeking ones own way, and forgiveness to name a few. For me, the hardest aspect of love to master was FORGIVNESS.
There were many times in my life when I was brought to my knees praying, asking for God’s love to surround me and comfort me. I was so lost and confused. I just wanted peace and healing from the pain of my past. God hearing my prayers begins guiding me to what I was to do next – “Love My Enemy” as Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:43-44.
How profound is this, to love the ones who hurt me? This verse required a tough choice for me – love rather than hate, build up rather than tear down, to heal rather than to destroy, to forgive rather than despise, to please God rather than please myself. How could I love the men who hurt me; who created such a fear inside me that caused me to cringe every time I heard their voice? Now more than ever I need God’s spirit of power and strength to do the right thing.
Continuing in prayer, God’s plan for my healing continues to be revealed. First I was to love my abusers through God’s unconditional love and now I am to see them as God sees them, as sinners in need of a savior! I wrestled with this for some time for this was truly a tall order to fill. Stumbling through my Bible, looking for another way, I come upon Matthew 6:14 – God’s command for us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
How was I to do this? Looking to my Bible, I search for God’s meaning of forgiveness. What better example than when Jesus was hanging on the cross, the cross that I put him on because of my sins. In Luke 23:34 I am reminded what true forgiveness is. Although my sins hurt God He sent his Son Jesus to die on that cross, to cancel the debt of my wrong doing. While Jesus was hanging on that cross, his dying breathe was “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus met me where I was, a sinner in need of a savior. Reading this I could clearly see the next task at hand was to meet my abusers where they are and forgive them.
As difficult as it was, I pressed forward allowing God to guide me. By doing so, I was able to see my abusers through His eyes, as lost souls in need of a savior. I saw in John 12:47 that Jesus came to save the world and draw ALL men to Him. If He is willing to forgive them, so must I. What was my final prize one might ask? PEACE!!!!!
Forgiving those who hurt me released the anger and bitterness I was harboring deep inside that caused destruction in all areas of my life. Forgiving those who hurt me has freed my spirit to love my family again and to be loved; to smile at the dawn of each new day.
Ladies, we all face times in our lives when people hurt us. If you can remember the things learned here today, forgiveness will come easy and peace and LOVE will reign in your life!
Below I have shared a segment of Livin' The Love Talk Show. I was honored to be a guest on their show sharng my story.
https://youtu.be/BTNc6fRtUmA
http://livinthelove.org/2015/05/forgive-today-love-tomorrow/
Showing Love Through Forgiveness
As I grew stronger, I felt challenged to take "ACTION" with the knowledge that I had been given, and show LOVE THROUGH FORGIVENESS.
Before we move on, I would like to take a moment to ask what your definition of love is. Take a moment to think before reading on.
According to I Corinthians 13:4 love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things; love never fails.
Looking closely at this verse, one can clearly see that love is not just a warm and fuzzy feeling, but that it requires something from us - ACTION. Love is choosing to think of what is best for someone else. It’s shifting our attitudes and actions from selfishness to selflessness.
There are many times in our daily life when we are presented with opportunities to show love. Nothing gets my blood flowing more than when I am running late and while driving someone in front of me is going ever so slow. Without warning I feel anger brewing, trying to raise its ugly head. It takes all that I have to calm down so that I don’t use words that would not be very nice at all. This is a perfect opportunity to show love, to stop and think about the driver of the other car. Maybe they just lost someone they love, or maybe they lost their job. I was reminded that everyone’s actions are caused by a reaction to something they are going through in their life.
Who would like to take a moment to think about a situation where you were able to show love at a difficult time instead of anger?
As we can see in I Corinthians 13, love has many aspects: kindness, patience, and lack of arrogance, selflessness, not seeking ones own way, and forgiveness to name a few. For me, the hardest aspect of love to master was FORGIVNESS.
There were many times in my life when I was brought to my knees praying, asking for God’s love to surround me and comfort me. I was so lost and confused. I just wanted peace and healing from the pain of my past. God hearing my prayers begins guiding me to what I was to do next – “Love My Enemy” as Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:43-44.
How profound is this, to love the ones who hurt me? This verse required a tough choice for me – love rather than hate, build up rather than tear down, to heal rather than to destroy, to forgive rather than despise, to please God rather than please myself. How could I love the men who hurt me; who created such a fear inside me that caused me to cringe every time I heard their voice? Now more than ever I need God’s spirit of power and strength to do the right thing.
Continuing in prayer, God’s plan for my healing continues to be revealed. First I was to love my abusers through God’s unconditional love and now I am to see them as God sees them, as sinners in need of a savior! I wrestled with this for some time for this was truly a tall order to fill. Stumbling through my Bible, looking for another way, I come upon Matthew 6:14 – God’s command for us to forgive as we have been forgiven.
How was I to do this? Looking to my Bible, I search for God’s meaning of forgiveness. What better example than when Jesus was hanging on the cross, the cross that I put him on because of my sins. In Luke 23:34 I am reminded what true forgiveness is. Although my sins hurt God He sent his Son Jesus to die on that cross, to cancel the debt of my wrong doing. While Jesus was hanging on that cross, his dying breathe was “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus met me where I was, a sinner in need of a savior. Reading this I could clearly see the next task at hand was to meet my abusers where they are and forgive them.
As difficult as it was, I pressed forward allowing God to guide me. By doing so, I was able to see my abusers through His eyes, as lost souls in need of a savior. I saw in John 12:47 that Jesus came to save the world and draw ALL men to Him. If He is willing to forgive them, so must I. What was my final prize one might ask? PEACE!!!!!
Forgiving those who hurt me released the anger and bitterness I was harboring deep inside that caused destruction in all areas of my life. Forgiving those who hurt me has freed my spirit to love my family again and to be loved; to smile at the dawn of each new day.
Ladies, we all face times in our lives when people hurt us. If you can remember the things learned here today, forgiveness will come easy and peace and LOVE will reign in your life!
Below I have shared a segment of Livin' The Love Talk Show. I was honored to be a guest on their show sharng my story.
https://youtu.be/BTNc6fRtUmA
Never Let the Sun Go Down Without Letting Go of Your Anger
Photo by RC Creation http://www.rccreation.weebly.com