By: Diane Hernandez
West Campus Overview Leader
"But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant for good..." Genesis 50:20
Love, Forgiveness and Reconciliation or Forgetting are all 'one' in the same. When Jesus died on the cross, LOVE became the cross bow that bound them together. Therefore, FORGIVING & FORGETTING are like Siamese Twins. They were never meant to be separated and will go hand-n-hand together. From God's perspective, Love, Forgiveness & Reconciliation or Forgetting are all the same!
They will forever be grounded on the ROCK which is the foundation of Calvary, the mountain of Surrender! The Cross is the greatest example that God gave us about Unconditional Love. What we have gone through our whole lives will always come back to the Cross!
Forgive and Forget were the two poles that God used where Jesus' head, back & legs were placed against. And Love was the beam that turned those two poles into a Cross. Jesus Forgave us. We are to follow His example and forgive all the people that have hurt us.
"Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing." Luke 23:34
Jesus FORGETS all of our sins, so we must do the same with all the people who have hurt us.
"Once again you will show loving concern for us. You will completely wipe out the evil things we've done. You will throw all of our sins into the bottom of the sea." Micah 7:19
Jesus' Love for us is so amazing! And we must love everyone exactly like He did.God loves the whole world, so in His eyes, there is no such thing as an unlovable person.
"How did God show His love for us? He sent His one and only Son into the world. He sent Him so we could receive life through Him. What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that He loved us and sent His Son to give His life to pay for our sins." 1 John 4: 9-10
Surrender all your wants, desires & hurts over to God just like Jesus did! His life never was nor should yours be about what you want. Your life has always been about God's Will, not your will. It pleased God to allow Jesus to suffer and so must we.
"My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering away from Me. But let what You want be done, not what I want." Matthew 26:39
In September, I started preparing for my overview and mistakenly thought that I was going to cover chapter eight's topic on forgiveness. I must confess that I am a bit OCD so I had all my ducks in a row by early October. But I was mistaken and my subject to cover was "Love Reconciles".
Four weeks ago, a life changing incident took place and I began to wonder if I should step down from presenting the overview today. You see, my family was involved in a senseless attack and I could not fathom how I could present "Love Reconciles" when I could not bring myself to forgive those that hurt us.
During the aftermath, a good friend reminded me that in the Hebrew language there is not a word for coincidence. That comforted my heart because a lot of my thoughts were filled with "What if's". I was struggling with asking God, "WHY?"
I found myself thinking of the renown Footprints poem and wondering what mine have looked like these past few weeks. Before the incident you would have seen two sets of prints (Jesus and me walking side by side). Days after the incident, you would have seen one set of footprints (Jesus holding me). But as the days progressed, there would be one set of footprints with many prints off to the side in a circle (Jesus walking and me throwing a tantrum to the side); and the next would be one set of footprints with two parallel lines next to them (Jesus walking and me dragging my feet the entire way).
Before this incident, I would listen to Matthew West's song, "Forgiveness" and marvel at Renee Napier's heart to forgive the drunk driver that killed her daughter. Not only did she chose to forgive her daughter's killer, she and the other family appealed to have his sentence reduced from 22 years to 11 years. I love how Matthew West summed up Renee's actions to forgive Eric.
"By Renee forgiving Eric, she has made a choice to humbly follow the example Christ set for us, and God has used her step of faith to release healing into both of their lives, leading Eric to find his own personal freedom in Christ. And what is it about Renee that would allow her to see her perpetrator through eyes of grace and not anger? When one's heart and soul are awake to the need of forgiveness in one's own life,k then they will be more inclined to see their enemy through eyes of compassion. Jesus laying down His own life for our sins is the truest example of how we should forgive others. And the reward of forgiveness is great." (Excerpt taken from http://www.matthewwest.com/the-stories/the-story-forgiveness)
I am sure there are many reading these words that have also been wounded and hurt by the words or actions of another. Forgiveness and Reconciliation are difficult. If you find yourself in the same boat as me, you are not alone. And I don't mean that you and I are together. I mean that there is someone greater in the boat with us. JESUS. He was with my family on that night and protected us from even greater damage. He continues to be with me as I sit in court rooms viewing the faces of my attackers and hearing their words. And He will be the one to help me truly live out the words of Matthew West's song, "Show me how to love the unlovable. Teach me how to reach the unreachable. Help me now to do the impossible. Forgiveness. I want to finally set it free. So show me how to see what Your mercy sees. Help me now to give what You gave to me. Forgiveness."
As I sit with tears in my eyes, I cannot fathom how hard these three words are to utter but I know with God's prompting, I will one day be able to say to each of my attackers, "I Forgive You."
***ABIDING WOMEN DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THE LYRICS AND CONTENT SHARED FROM MATTHEW WEST. ALL CONTENT BELONGS TO MR. WEST AND HIS RECORDING LABEL.***
Michelle - I sit here with tears in my eyes at your words! How powerful your conviction on forgiveness and reconciliation (forgetting) in the face of what you and your family have gone through! This chapter in the study has been hard for me, too. Very, very convicting! There are those that I do forgive, but it's been so hard to forget! I think, too, satan knows this and whispers in our ear about these people or situations when we are at our lowest. I've realized that God IS greater than all this and that I need to trust in Him that all has worked according to His purpose, even those hard and hurtful times. He uses them to grow us. I didn't know there wasn't a word in the Hebrew for coincidence! Wow! This was very powerful to me, too! Thank you so much for always sharing your heart so openly. It makes me realize I'm not alone in my own situations and I love how you share how God has worked in your life. It encourages me to do the same.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you - Julie