Back At The Cross, Where I Belong...

Relinquishing bitterness is an open invitation for the Holy Spirit to give you His peace, His joy and the knowledge of His will."

It is not comfy to make changes. I don't really like it much. I like familiarity. One of my most favorite things in life is a sense of belonging.
Sentiment.

My husband likes to rearrange the furniture. I like to find a way I just love it and keep it that way. I love going back to places I went as a kid and finding them pretty much the same. I don't like when I go back and there is nothing recognizable about a place.
Nostalgia.

I love having a "past" with people. I love saying "Remember when we ...". I love looking at pictures from way back when and seeing the face of someone I still see regularly. History.

So this has been a great hurt for me. Someone caused the loss of my sense of belonging to a certain place; sentiment, nostalgia and history have been stolen from me. When something happens that reminds me of that, I am tempted to allow unforgiveness in.

We have made every attempt at resolution, but have been denied on each attempt. This gives more reasons for unforgiveness -- or more opportunity for forgiveness. I am reading the book Total Forgiveness and I am seeing applicable, practical facts about forgiveness I didn't realize before.

Forgiveness without resolution is something I had never really studied about. But this caught my eye:"One must totally forgive those who will not be reconciled" and "An injured person can forgive an offender without reconciliation." I am reading so many things that ring true and are eye opening. This book brings me back again and again to God's Word. That brings clarity and, for this black-and-white, rule-following kind of gal, helps me see the path. Straight back to the foot of the Cross...where I will always belong.


"It may be far easier to forgive when we know that those who maligned or betrayed us are sorry for what they did, but if I must have this knowledge before I can forgive, I may never have the victory over my bitterness."

"Total forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling -- at least at first -- but is rather an act of the will."

"...grace is getting what we don't deserve (favor), and mercy is not getting what we do deserve (justice). So when we show mercy we are withholding justice from those who have injured us, and that is one aspect of godliness."

"True forgiveness shows grace and mercy at the same time."

"If I have a genuine heart-experience, I will not be devastated if there is no reconciliation. If those who hurt me don't want to continue a relationship with me, it isn't my problem because I have forgiven them."

"Confidence toward God is ultimately what total forgiveness is all about; He is the one I want to please at the end of the day."

Okay, I will stop now. Read the book!