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FORGIVENESS |
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As I reached for a second cookie, Daddy
spoke to me from across the dining-room table. “Now,
Pat, that’s why you’re having a hard time with your
weight.”
I looked past Daddy’s head and out the basement window
to the driveway where my husband and our young daughter
were washing the car. With a familiar “nobody” feeling
starting to close in around me again, I returned Mama’s
delicious chocolate-chip cookie to the platter.
Then, seeking an escape, I gathered up the dirty plates
and silverware and started into the kitchen. I prayed,
“Lord, You know how hard I’ve been trying to lose these
few extra pounds. I’m so tired of feeling like a little
girl whenever I come home. I’m almost 30 years old!”
Leaning wearily against the sink, I put my hands into
the warm, sudsy water, and remembered . . .
Last New Year’s Eve, as I was praying about my yearly,
personal-growth goals, the Lord put His finger on a weak
area in my life-forgiveness. With the Holy Spirit’s
conviction, I prayed, “Lord, I have always felt
overwhelmed in dealing with offenses. Whenever I get
hurt, I hold those hurts and nurse the grudges. This
year, Lord, my goal is to break out of this childish
pattern and to learn how to forgive.”
Several days after that prayer of commitment, I brought
this matter before the Lord again. As I read Ephesians
4:32, “Be . . . tender-hearted, forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you,” (NASB) I
received some insights into Jesus’ forgiveness.
Christ’s crucifiers did not ask for forgiveness. Yet, we
read in Luke 23:34 that Jesus, without being asked, took
the initiative, and while in His pain, He prayed,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they
are doing” (NIV). Christ forgave unilaterally from the
cross.
Reflecting on these insights, I felt hope and faith
build within me. “Lord,” I prayed, “I thank You that I
am ‘in Christ’ because You died for my sins, even before
I asked. And because of Your resurrection life within
me, I have the authority to do the same toward those who
hurt me. When offenses come, I choose to take up my own
cross, and with a tender heart, to forgive all their
offenses.”
At the sink I made that choice. Deliberately, I prayed,
“Father, forgive Daddy because he didn’t know what he
was doing. He didn’t know that he hurt me.”
I looked out the kitchen window to the clear,
southwestern Kansas sky and breathed in the summer air.
As release, renewal and joy replaced the pain, God’s
loving presence enveloped me as His affirmation
resounded in my mind and heart: “Well done, good and
faithful daughter!”
As I basked in a strong sense of belongingness, I heard
footsteps behind me. Daddy’s arms wrapped around my
waist and his mustache tickled my cheek. Through my
tenderhearted obedience, I had learned invaluable
lessons in restoring broken relationships".
(Patricia Dunagan Matsen) - Selected
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This page
is updated on March 15, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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