A Gift of the Heart

A post from Louise Brooks:

Forgiveness is a tricky thing.  It’s one of those things that we as the forgiven need to offer to others we need to forgive.  Sometimes it’s a quick thing this forgiveness of others.  And sometimes it can take years.

You know those quick things that are easy to forgive – someone showing up a few minutes late for a meeting; someone getting ahead of you in line at Starbucks when technically you were there first; someone bumping into you on the Metro.  No big deal!  I can forgive that!  Right?

And then, there are those other things.  Those things that wound us deeply or that pick at the scab of those deep wounds we thought were healed.  Ouch.  And, so, it becomes a process, a little thing we can do a little bit each day.  You pray, “Today, Lord, help me forgive this little part.”  And it’s a thing that happens; a thing that God does in us little by little so that one day it’s done.  And you have that conversation with the one you need to forgive because of the power of the One who has forgiven you.  A conversation that you’ve always wanted to have, but never thought you could.  A conversation that resolves those things that you thought you could never be resolved.  And you’re right.  You can’t.  But He can.  And does.

So, this forgiveness we give is a gift of the heart.  A gift of God’s work in and through us.   A gift of grace.

How has God’s power healed those hurt places in you, allowing you to extended forgiveness to others?

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.  (Zechariah 4:6)