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D
It's a difficult subject and for those who have experienced violence
I cannot pretend to imagine the problems you must have.
An example which did come to mind is that of David and Saul. David was
chased and hounded for years by Saul. But David was still able to extend the
grace of God to him, even to the degree that he did not extract revenge and
kill him when the opportunity came.
Then there is Paul who persecuted the church, that must have been hard
one minute he was threatening to murder everyone, then the next he was the
main man of the moment spreading the gospel.
I also wonder about Joseph, the wine guy got out but forgot about him.
His brothers also sold him into slavery. If ever there was a person who
could have bore a grudge it was him.
Its not always an overnight thing, it can take time to heal emotionally but as
some have said, I think forgiveness is important.
Unresolved bitterness and hurt only harms the person who harbours it.
It hinders God's work in a person's life and it is always there in the
background waiting to bite you when you least expect it.
I really do think God gently leads a person into forgiveness. He does not
stand over them with a big iron bar pointing the finger, rather he works
in the back ground coaxing them to himself leading them to the right time
to deal with the issues.
I have experienced this myself. Some may have read my testimony and
know I was brought up in foster care by my aunt. I thought I had
dealt with my past but then in 2014 I discovered my real mum who I
have not seen since I was a child, had died.
This brought all sorts of unresolved issues up, it was not so much that
I had to forgive her, my real mum had schizophrenia she had nothing to
apologise for.
But I did find that I needed to forgive God, forgive myself and
forgive other members if my family aunt's and uncles, grandparents
- that is forgive them in my own mind. Some are no longer alive and
others I have not seen for 30-40 years.
The odd thing was that my mum died in 2012 but I did not find
out about this until 2014. Looking back I think God was waiting for
the right time for me to deal with everything. 2012 was not the right
time but 2014 was.
I cannot pretend to imagine the problems you must have.
An example which did come to mind is that of David and Saul. David was
chased and hounded for years by Saul. But David was still able to extend the
grace of God to him, even to the degree that he did not extract revenge and
kill him when the opportunity came.
Then there is Paul who persecuted the church, that must have been hard
one minute he was threatening to murder everyone, then the next he was the
main man of the moment spreading the gospel.
I also wonder about Joseph, the wine guy got out but forgot about him.
His brothers also sold him into slavery. If ever there was a person who
could have bore a grudge it was him.
Its not always an overnight thing, it can take time to heal emotionally but as
some have said, I think forgiveness is important.
Unresolved bitterness and hurt only harms the person who harbours it.
It hinders God's work in a person's life and it is always there in the
background waiting to bite you when you least expect it.
I really do think God gently leads a person into forgiveness. He does not
stand over them with a big iron bar pointing the finger, rather he works
in the back ground coaxing them to himself leading them to the right time
to deal with the issues.
I have experienced this myself. Some may have read my testimony and
know I was brought up in foster care by my aunt. I thought I had
dealt with my past but then in 2014 I discovered my real mum who I
have not seen since I was a child, had died.
This brought all sorts of unresolved issues up, it was not so much that
I had to forgive her, my real mum had schizophrenia she had nothing to
apologise for.
But I did find that I needed to forgive God, forgive myself and
forgive other members if my family aunt's and uncles, grandparents
- that is forgive them in my own mind. Some are no longer alive and
others I have not seen for 30-40 years.
The odd thing was that my mum died in 2012 but I did not find
out about this until 2014. Looking back I think God was waiting for
the right time for me to deal with everything. 2012 was not the right
time but 2014 was.
Just nice to hear I'm not the only one to get angry with the love of my life.
P
oh...i see now! (if you could hear me, you'd know how long each of those vowel sounds is held )
i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one. )
(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
)i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one.
)(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
I am not sure if if it's my place to tell someone they need to forgive someone. Depleted went through something no one should ever have to and whether she forgives those who did all that is up to her and it also has to be in her time. Forgiveness is perhaps one of the hardest things to do when one has been hurt so badly it isn't something that you can just suddenly do it's something that you learn in time. Wisdom and maturity both come in time as does faith all three of things cannot be forced you try to be wise to be mature you try to have a level of faith but if it just isn't in you then your just trying to force something that isn't there at least yet.
Depleted, you may or may not ever forgive them but I want you to know that you are not to be rushed healing and wounds of the heart are the slowest of all wounds and you have mend them properly and in time.
Depleted, you may or may not ever forgive them but I want you to know that you are not to be rushed healing and wounds of the heart are the slowest of all wounds and you have mend them properly and in time.
oh...i see now! (if you could hear me, you'd know how long each of those vowel sounds is held )
i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one. )
(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
)i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one.
)(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
You know God treasures a heart that honest with him and he doesn't have wrath built up for you if your angry with him. he can read your heart anyways he knows if your angry he knows your misgivings your irritation with him but he wants to hear it from you. I have been angry at him sometimes, but I always want to have an honest relationship with him and I knew he could read my heart anyways. in all honesty I let him have it I poured all my anger all my irritations and frustrations with him I did not hold back. I was angry with him for a certain issue that I have dealt with for a long time but the funny thing is I wasn't able to heal from that problem until I really told God how I was feeling how angry I was.
I mean I did not relent and knowing him I didn't fear a lightning strike, I truly believe because I was honest even with my anger in him that he and I became much closer
I mean I did not relent and knowing him I didn't fear a lightning strike, I truly believe because I was honest even with my anger in him that he and I became much closer
B
we have (as it were) crossed swords before, You seem to think (assumed by your answers to my former posts, please forgive me if I am wrong) that I have a wishy washy attitude to sin. On the contrary, but I am going to let you in on something that happened to me, I have never written of this before in this way.
I had invited a friend of mine (we had known each other for years) to the opening of an Inn near where I lived. He bought with him four friends, 3 male and 1 female, Our history was based on narcotics of one form or another so a good night was expected by all, and the motorcycle club I was with had planned a bit of a party afterwards and the landlord had said we could use the spare rooms in the Inn to sleep off the nights revelry.
The thing was I had grown up a bit, got married and moved on, I still liked the weed and a bit of amphetamine now and then, but my focus was my wife and children and work and motorcycle. This particular evening was arranged when we met by chance while out shopping. He instantly took a dislike to my family but I did not pick up on it.
My youngest daughter fell ill the day before and she and my eldest daughter had already arranged to go to their grandmothers that weekend but the youngest ended up staying in bed at home, so when my 'friends' arrived the woman they bought stayed with my wife and all the men went to the pub for some fun.
He knew what was going to happen and had planed it accordingly, he could not bare that I was contented with my lot which did not include him so he bought with him 10 LSD microdots. He knew the pub had a special beer as a feature from which 4 pint jugs of ale would be dispensed and his plan was to sabotage the jugs with the LSD and then have fun of his own.
He knew I was not gay and that "I was still a virgin" and it was his intention to "break me in" along with any others who would be there. His plans were thwarted when his lady friend stayed at home with my wife and my youngest, because she had the LSD. By 10:30 that evening he was a bit drunk and getting angry, members of the club I was with were getting nervous and we decided to leave early, even though the driver of the rented bus had had too much to drink we left.
When I got home I found my wife sat on the stairs with the poker in her hand covered in blood mumbling "She will not get to her" meaning my youngest. there was a certain amount of confusion which lasted about 30 minutes before they left.
She, had given all the LSD to my wife in a 2Ltr bottle of beer and had then tried to erase her mind with pictures of a spider with big teeth, this ploy didn't work because my wife was insect friendly but the beating she took was meant for me, she pulled out her fingernails with pliers, she hung her by the dogs chain lead to the bannisters while she then raped her with an unopened beer bottle, the type with a metal cap. She broke her collar bone, fractured and her eye socket and this carried on all night until we got back. My wife died four years later, she developed anorexia and never really recovered.
The upshot is yes we are to forgive and we are to forgive ourselves, I think this one is one of the most important things Jesus has done with me, allowing me to forgive myself and allowing me to be able to forgive my former friend and his companions.
My life now is so far from those days as to be unreal, but those days have left a thorn in my side which by Gods grace I have to live with. I am now so blessed that my youngest daughter through her illness slept through it all and my eldest wasn't there.If anything like this were to happen now I do not know how I would react, not that I try to put my new family in harms way.
I know that I have a propensity to flare up when I feel my family is threatened and going to the cross is my only way to calm down. I know how much I have been forgiven and the things I have done although now sunk in the deepest part of the sea by His grace are still in memory and make me wince when they come to mind, and my language can be choice at times turning the air purple with pink spots, but in Christ I know that a coal from the alter has been put to my lips, and my heart and my uncleanness is made clean by His blood.
The Lord has put on my heart the salvation of 300.000.000 in Europe, and this is just my heart, I know there are more out there who feel for their continent and I know the Holy Spirit is going to make a really big splash in the sea of this world, but afterwards a great evil is going to sweep over the world, and I fear for all my children, those grown up and those still at home.
I have earnestly petitioned God to keep my children safe, I do not want my children to go through what I have or be touched by even a 100th of it. I am getting older and my strength is failing and I can not protect those I love as I used to be able to and I have to trust God to do it, I have to show my children by my actions what forgiveness is and how it encompasses everything, even those who are doing the hurting while they are doing the hurting.
I can in all honesty say I hope to hold and hug and love my former friend and his four companions within the Kingdom because then they too will know the saving power of Jesus. The holy Spirit has let me know also that If I do not forgive them I am stopping God from judging them on that point in their lives, and that even though I have forgiven them and asked God to do so, they will still have to answer to God for the lives they have lived when He returns. As will we all.
I had invited a friend of mine (we had known each other for years) to the opening of an Inn near where I lived. He bought with him four friends, 3 male and 1 female, Our history was based on narcotics of one form or another so a good night was expected by all, and the motorcycle club I was with had planned a bit of a party afterwards and the landlord had said we could use the spare rooms in the Inn to sleep off the nights revelry.
The thing was I had grown up a bit, got married and moved on, I still liked the weed and a bit of amphetamine now and then, but my focus was my wife and children and work and motorcycle. This particular evening was arranged when we met by chance while out shopping. He instantly took a dislike to my family but I did not pick up on it.
My youngest daughter fell ill the day before and she and my eldest daughter had already arranged to go to their grandmothers that weekend but the youngest ended up staying in bed at home, so when my 'friends' arrived the woman they bought stayed with my wife and all the men went to the pub for some fun.
He knew what was going to happen and had planed it accordingly, he could not bare that I was contented with my lot which did not include him so he bought with him 10 LSD microdots. He knew the pub had a special beer as a feature from which 4 pint jugs of ale would be dispensed and his plan was to sabotage the jugs with the LSD and then have fun of his own.
He knew I was not gay and that "I was still a virgin" and it was his intention to "break me in" along with any others who would be there. His plans were thwarted when his lady friend stayed at home with my wife and my youngest, because she had the LSD. By 10:30 that evening he was a bit drunk and getting angry, members of the club I was with were getting nervous and we decided to leave early, even though the driver of the rented bus had had too much to drink we left.
When I got home I found my wife sat on the stairs with the poker in her hand covered in blood mumbling "She will not get to her" meaning my youngest. there was a certain amount of confusion which lasted about 30 minutes before they left.
She, had given all the LSD to my wife in a 2Ltr bottle of beer and had then tried to erase her mind with pictures of a spider with big teeth, this ploy didn't work because my wife was insect friendly but the beating she took was meant for me, she pulled out her fingernails with pliers, she hung her by the dogs chain lead to the bannisters while she then raped her with an unopened beer bottle, the type with a metal cap. She broke her collar bone, fractured and her eye socket and this carried on all night until we got back. My wife died four years later, she developed anorexia and never really recovered.
The upshot is yes we are to forgive and we are to forgive ourselves, I think this one is one of the most important things Jesus has done with me, allowing me to forgive myself and allowing me to be able to forgive my former friend and his companions.
My life now is so far from those days as to be unreal, but those days have left a thorn in my side which by Gods grace I have to live with. I am now so blessed that my youngest daughter through her illness slept through it all and my eldest wasn't there.If anything like this were to happen now I do not know how I would react, not that I try to put my new family in harms way.
I know that I have a propensity to flare up when I feel my family is threatened and going to the cross is my only way to calm down. I know how much I have been forgiven and the things I have done although now sunk in the deepest part of the sea by His grace are still in memory and make me wince when they come to mind, and my language can be choice at times turning the air purple with pink spots, but in Christ I know that a coal from the alter has been put to my lips, and my heart and my uncleanness is made clean by His blood.
The Lord has put on my heart the salvation of 300.000.000 in Europe, and this is just my heart, I know there are more out there who feel for their continent and I know the Holy Spirit is going to make a really big splash in the sea of this world, but afterwards a great evil is going to sweep over the world, and I fear for all my children, those grown up and those still at home.
I have earnestly petitioned God to keep my children safe, I do not want my children to go through what I have or be touched by even a 100th of it. I am getting older and my strength is failing and I can not protect those I love as I used to be able to and I have to trust God to do it, I have to show my children by my actions what forgiveness is and how it encompasses everything, even those who are doing the hurting while they are doing the hurting.
I can in all honesty say I hope to hold and hug and love my former friend and his four companions within the Kingdom because then they too will know the saving power of Jesus. The holy Spirit has let me know also that If I do not forgive them I am stopping God from judging them on that point in their lives, and that even though I have forgiven them and asked God to do so, they will still have to answer to God for the lives they have lived when He returns. As will we all.
D
I've been asking when our right standing comes into play for forgiveness. As in who stands right with God that he/she can dare to ask the offender to forgive those who are being offended.
I have GOT to learn patience. Got an answer from God today through Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional:
As usual, it isn't the answer I expected from God, but it does remind me where I ought to be looking.
I have GOT to learn patience. Got an answer from God today through Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional:
As usual, it isn't the answer I expected from God, but it does remind me where I ought to be looking.
D
oh...i see now! (if you could hear me, you'd know how long each of those vowel sounds is held )
i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one. )
(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
)i do the things you've described. for myself....meh
for others, that's difficult because i have that same mama bear thing going.
when someone lies about GOD (or, sadly as we've seen here, basically claims to be God)-- the hardest of all.
i struggle with the mama bear instinct, especially when it's really my kiddos involved because i AM their momma.
(before my daughters were married i told their intendeds if they ever hurt my little girls i would kill them, bury them in the backyard, dig them up and kill them again lol! they said, we expected dad to be the scary one.
)(and oh, by the way, now i couldn't love those boys more if i had given birth to them.)
i think auntieant is onto something with the mind of Christ 'biz'.
(now if i can really get--fully comprehend, not acquire-- it!)
P
dear heart, think you my natural born children never gave us any problems??
that's part of the name of the parenting game. our son had the habit of flaring into anger and biting his three older sisters when he was a year old. and that's the tip of the iceberg
(by the time said son was almost 5 and his little sister was born he nurtured her and called her his lovin' darlin' lol. he's now 28 and the kindest young man you could meet ♥ )
(of course, i'm not biased at all)
no, problems are to be expected when you have children. but God has placed such love in the heart of (sob! most) parents you deal with them gladly and with all that love behind it.
come to my house and be all the problem you want.
that's part of the name of the parenting game. our son had the habit of flaring into anger and biting his three older sisters when he was a year old. and that's the tip of the iceberg
(by the time said son was almost 5 and his little sister was born he nurtured her and called her his lovin' darlin' lol. he's now 28 and the kindest young man you could meet ♥ )
(of course, i'm not biased at all
)no, problems are to be expected when you have children. but God has placed such love in the heart of (sob! most) parents you deal with them gladly and with all that love behind it.
come to my house and be all the problem you want.
C
My brother lived in a house with other christian room mates years ago. A friend of him came over, I was there too and apparently he said something wrong which offended a room mate. So he said: Oh I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?
The guy, totally serious, said: Wait.
He waited a few minutes and then said: Okay, I forgive you.
Oh my goodness gracious me.
The guy, totally serious, said: Wait.
He waited a few minutes and then said: Okay, I forgive you.
Oh my goodness gracious me.