Tag Archives: freedom

Forgiveness 

30 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Daily Truth, Encouraging, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Prayer, Self Reflection

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Forgiveness.

That’s a tough subject for many, especially when you’ve been deeply hurt. A big part of my story revolved around the wrong definition of what forgiveness meant. Questions led to fear and that fear led to beating myself up over and over again unknowingly leaving the door open to more hurt. 

What is forgiveness? 

To make a choice to pardon or release someone based on a wrong they did…that’s forgiveness. It’s doesn’t at all mean that the wrong was justified or that it never happened. Some think that to forgive is to admit that what someone did wasn’t wrong. That you, the one hurt, doesn’t have a reason to be hurt or offended. That they, the offender, is off the hook. Wrong! There are consequences, but we are not always the one to determine what those are. It is NOT a get out of jail free card for them…it’s for you. To be free from anger, resentment, bitterness, and pain. It’s a gift you give yourself. 

I was taught that just so long as they said “sorry” that was enough. Well, that’s not enough for me and I found that’s not enough for God either. He requires more, a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and a change of heart and actions. 

“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭7:10-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Proof is what I like to call it. How many times have you asked for forgiveness and turned around and did the same thing again? Or, someone has said sorry only to turn around and repeat their behavior? We must live by Gods standard, especially if we hold others to them. 

What isn’t forgiveness? 

Forgiveness is not shoving things under the carpet. Forgiveness is not forgetting it ever happened. That’s denial and avoidance. Doing this hides us from the truth and closing the door on our healing. Pain left unhealed blinds us to our future. We can’t move forward because we are always looking back. 

Forgiveness doesn’t have to establish a relationship. This is where so many people have it wrong. They think to forgive is to allow that someone back in your life. In some cases this will happen and relationships can be restored. Sometimes, relationships are altered and require strict boundaries, if not a temporary or permanent separation. Take abuse for example. Should someone who is being abused allow the abuser access to them just because they apologized? Or should there be boundaries that limit relationship and access until a pattern of sincerity and changed behavior is proven? 

Sadly, so many of us don’t know how to forgive and begin the process of healing because we have been misinformed. 

Forgiveness is a choice. Gods word tells us to forgive so that we can be forgiven. 

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Although we may never do what someone has done to us we are not perfect. We too, are human. Imperfect. It’s a process. We are a process. It took me a moment to forgive and years to walk out the process of healing. It took a moment to ask for forgiveness, but time to learn a new way. This is a process that if we can walk it out no matter the pain, we can be free, eventually.  Free from the stains we caused and free from the stains that others have left behind. 

I don’t pretend to have it all together. Many days I have to remind myself that it takes time. Being quick to forgive is hard, but freeing. Knowing that I need Gods forgiveness keeps my heart pliable to truth…Gods truth. 

I pray Gods truth would be louder than our past hurts, lies, and misunderstandings. My desire is that we can move forward and experience healing, healing that leads to freedom. Freedom that helps us set others free! 

Em ❤️ 

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Complaining and Comparing 10/28/15 

28 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Daily Truth, Encouraging, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Self Reflection

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Good morning friends! 

Today is the day we get another step closer to where Gods is taking us! Yes!! 

Do you ever catch yourself wondering why in the world am I still here? This would be the reoccurring theme these days. Have you seen hardship after hardship with small seasons of peace or calm yet it’s never long enough to be an overcomer or victor. Can I get a witness? Amen sista Emilie {I’ll high five myself}! 

God is doing a deep work when you find yourself in a familiar situation or season. The Isrealites were brought out into the desert to worship the Lord and root out Egypt. They had been captive so long {hundreds of years} that Egypt and their ways were more in them than they thought. They cried out to be delivered from bondage physically but spiritually, emotionally, and mentally they were in bondage as well. Our outside condition is NOT the only condition that needs to be tended to. I’m sure they, the Isrealites, thought the moment we are out of here we’ll be free from all of this slave work and bondage. Yet, we see that when they were in the desert even after the Red Sea crossing they wanted to go back cause at least they had this or that. What?! Go back after all they have seen God do?!

Don’t judge. We do it all the time. How many times has God brought us out of a situation and it doesn’t look like we thought it would and the first thing we do is complain and compare? We want the immediate turnaround, it’s what we prayed for. However, God sees deeper then that. He sees how we have become a slave to our old way of thinking, doing, believing. Oh sure, our surroundings may be different but we are still in the same place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We are wandering round and round the same mountain wondering what is God doing. He is killing off the old you. The old ways. The old mind set. The old belief and doubts that have held you at a distance from true trust in God. He is creating a new dependence on him alone. No more options. He can’t allow you to have one ounce of Egypt in you when you enter into your promise land. 

Don’t despise your wilderness. This is a mandatory season of preparing you for your promise. I know it doesn’t look good. You’re tired. You’re hungry. You want more than just the temporary. Stop complaining. Stop comparing. Get ahold of what has been promised and praise God while on your journey there. Don’t allow yourself to wander one more moment longer than necessary because of your complaining and comparing attitude. Trust God knows the way out and is leading you there now!! 

Liar Liar 10/12/15 

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by in Daily Truth, Encouraging, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Self Reflection

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Good afternoon friends!!

Don’t you hate it when a thought interrupts your day and overstays it’s welcome?! Me too!! I was doing the dishes {when am I not?} and I had a thought about dishonest people {ugh}. Trying to decode why people lie is almost impossible. You’ll hear lots of reasons why but truth is there is only one real reason anyone lies…fear. I know all the times I’ve lied {guilty} has been out of fear. Fear of consequences. Fear of what the truth will look /sound like. Fear of what I will look like if I tell the truth. Honestly, the truth sometimes is a scary thing. 

Truth requires more out of us. Telling a lie is the easy way out. We don’t have to confront ourselves or others. We get to hide a little bit longer and avoid the inevitable…truth or consequence {a result or effect of an act or condition}. The bible says the truth will set you free…free from what? Free from strings that lies are attached to {my condensed definition}. Guilt. Shame. Condemnation and ultimately sin. We as Christians know the truth {Jesus, his word} and yet we settle for lies everyday that chain and bind us like a slave to the enemy and in return it results in a lifestyle of sin and destruction. 

I wanted to judge the liar and realized that I too, have been one. I am one every time I tell myself anything contrary to Gods word; when I comply and agree with the enemy when he whispers lies in my ear. I want to be an honest person but I must know the truth…Gods word! Live it. Believe it. Speak it and then I’m free from lies and the hurt they bring. 

Lying is a temporary fix for a deeply rooted fear. God is the only one who can dismantled our fears with his truth and love that leads to right believing and right living. Next time you’re tempted to lie think…What am I afraid of? I guarantee if you process this and begin to practice truth in your inner being you’ll be less tempted to lie to yourself or anyone else. 

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.           Psalm 51:6 

Courage…Encouraging Word for 9/29/15 

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Daily Truth, Encouraging, Faith, Hope, Self Reflection

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Good morning friends!! I feel it in my heart that someone needs to know this today!! 

When I was little I heard that children were to be seen and not heard and in order to keep the peace we were to keep quiet. Here’s my thought on that…silence is NOT peace…it’s the absence of sound and how could we ever keep the peace when there was none to begin with?  

I saw and experienced injustice and dysfunction all around me as a child. It created a fear based mentality that crippled me from speaking truth. No matter how bad I wanted to speak up I couldn’t. There was no peace only silence; they are NOT the same. The idea that my words could bring destruction haunted me until I discovered that I was meant to bring destruction to lies with Gods word in me!! God has given us an arsenal, his WORD, to combat the lies of the enemy. Had I known that my destiny was to speak and use my words to tear down lies I wouldn’t have wasted so many years in silence. You see the moment a truth is spoken we have just spoken life. We have declared war over death in an area! I love it!! Our words our powerful!! They can bless or curse. They can tear down or build up. They speak life or death. We choose. We have authority in Christ and the enemy wants to keep us from using it.

The lies from my childhood had caused a lot of damage but those lies were no match against Gods truth. It doesn’t happen overnight but this damage can be reversed!! I’ve had to dig deep and discover what God says about me and my life. What he likes and dislikes. What pleases him, what doesn’t. He longs to shed his light on the dark abandoned places of our heart, the areas where no one is allowed to go, not even us. He longs for us to speak the truth to ourselves even if it hurts, even if we’ve never said it out loud…we need to. It’s time to be seen and heard. It’s time to be free. 

I don’t know where you are today in your journey but I want to encourage you that you are seen and heard by a God who deeply loves you. He wants you to know his heart towards you. He wants to dismantle every lie and replace it with his freeing truth. He wants to be your friend, your refuge, your safe place to hide. He wants you to know you’re safe with him and in him there is real peace. Friends don’t waste another moment in silence and fear. God is waiting and knocking on your hearts door…will you have the courage to open it and let him in and find your voice?!