Forgiving Friday

Forgiveness is an action word that for some people, it's hard to do.  Some people have been hurt by others or one person so badly, that it is hard to forgive.  We have to realize that forgiveness does not mean that you condone the behavior, it means that once you forgive, you start your healing process.  Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you.  Some people have hardened there hearts so till forgiveness is out of the question for them.  But what if God treated us that way and not forgive us?  God forgives us over and over again and once He forgives, He remembers it NO MORE!! Unforgiveness looks ugly on people because they are so hardened.  God is a loving God and He loves unconditionally!  I learned this when I was going through my forgiveness journey.  It was really hard for me because hating was so easy to do.  But I realized that I am blocking all of what God has for me by not forgiving and I want everything that He has for me.  So I praying and asking God to help me with forgiving this person and I started to read this book called The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. The book consisted of reading a chapter a day and journaling what you have learned from that chapter and how are you going to apply it to your life on that day.  It was not a book to just read and apply later on, no, you had exercises to perform right then and there.  I knew that God was speaking through to me through this book because I got half-way thru the book and got stuck on one particular chapter called "Mending broken relationships".  I kept asking God what did He want me to do because He would not allow me to read the book any further.  I kept having dreams about this particular person and did not know why.  One day I was home alone and was trying to continue to read the book and I heard God whisper to me, "Write a letter".  I wanted to write it but did not know what to say in it because the hurt was so deep I knew that I would get angry all over again so I ignored His whisper and for 4 days I battled with it.  I went to talk to my mother about the situation I was going thru and she told me that I had to ask God.  So I just opened up and humbled myself and told Him if it is a letter that I needed to write then please help me to find the words to say.  The Holy Spirit fell upon me as I started to write this letter and by the time I was finished, it was four pages long front and back.  I mailed it and this person did read it because God guided me to call this person and they were shocked to hear my voice.  We talked about the letter and after about 30 minutes on the phone, we hung up and I thanked God for what He did for me because it felt like a weight was lifted off of my heart.  Of course there was some tears but tears are for the cleansing process.  I slept so good that night and when I woke up the next day I wanted to continue to read the book and I was able to finish the rest of the book with no problems.  See how God works?  When He wants you to do something, He expects you to do it! Although I hesitated and waited and was trying to avoid the inevitable, I then was obedient to his Word and my healing process began.  Forgiveness is a process and it will take some time to do but if you want all what God has for you, ask Him and He will direct your path.  I pray that this helps someone who is struggling with forgiveness.  God Bless!