Betrayal and hurt. They seem to come in a “bow-wrapped package” that life throws at you.
No matter how young or old you are, you have more than likely known a friend or two to betray you. But how did you handle it? Did you forgive them the second that it happened? Did you go on like nothing ever happened? Or did it take a little more effort?
If you have been really painfully hurt like I’m talking about, you know that it’s not easy to just say, “Oh you’re forgiven” and its over. It takes days, weeks, if not months or even years for some hurts to heal!
But, how does God tell us to handle these things that cut so deeply into our hearts? How does the Bible tell us to deal with this? What did the wisest people ever to live do about their hurts and pains?
Look at James 1:2-4 ((No, I’m not ‘gunna’ quote it till a later entry (maybe). You’ve gotta go look it up!!! 🙂 )), Genesis 50:19-21 and Luke 15:11-32. Take a minute to read these passages.
These people all learned forgiveness and they learned it the hard way! They all had hurts so painfully deep that only God could help them out of their self pity and pains!
If you look at some of the greatest people in the Bible, you’ll see that they all had A LOT to overcome and a lot to look past. But, the Bible also says to forgive 70 times 7 times PER TIME that a person offends you, ((That’s 490 times each time you are hurt!)) So God doesn’t expect you to be okay within the second that a person hurts you. He does expect for you to try to forgive them, to let it go! He wants for you to love them no matter what, and try to witness to them of God’s unconditional love.
It’s hard, TRUST ME! It is sooo hard!
In the past year, I’ve lost two best guy friends and a close gal pal to selfishness. They all did horrible things towards me and at times it seems that it is so impossible to get over it. Seeing them, hearing about them, or being around them just cuts deeper. But then, I look at how much I’ve learned from those situations and I thank God for them because without learning from those mistakes/experiences I would not be the person that I am today!
Am I perfect at forgiving? NO. It still hurts and its been a year for one of those friends, seven months for another and six months for another.
Does it mean that I’m a bad person? No. It just hurts that bad!
Taking those situations and letting God use them for His glory and His good is what life is about.
Try to forgive the best that you can. That’s what God truly wants! Try to see that what those people may have intended for evil, God is able to use for His good and perfect will!
Choose Jesus’ way over your own!
Choose to forgive and to love!
It’s not easy, but you don’t have to do it alone. God is always right there for you when it seems tough. “God will never let you go through more than you can handle,” a friend said to me when I felt as though there was no way to forgive the wrongs that had been done! Just remember that. “God will never let you go through more than you can handle.”
Forgive!
Love
Elisabeth
