Happy Sunday Morning Ya’ll! It’s Stephanie playing Melissa, LOL! This week Melissa is on vacay at the beach, and yes, I am jealous, LOL! But seriously, we will all miss her bunches I know! However, I am so excited to tackle the topic of Chapter 6 with you, which is FORGIVENESS!!!!
Our words of the week are
Surrender
Validated
Surrender is a vulnerable place to be…to relinquish possession or control of something.
I want to challenge you with a question. How tight are you holding onto that root of bitterness and anger?
Fear tells us that releasing our grip would leave the pain invalidated. Lies fill our heads that if we forgive, it would mean everything was okay. These lies hold us captive, multiple strings connecting our pain to our circumstances. Unless we cut them loose, we will continue to drag them behind us like a sad wobbly cart.
Forgiveness involves surrender, yes it does. But, we must be cognizant of the one in which we surrender to. Instead of continuing to bow down to the bondage of un-forgiveness, we must choose to surrender, to give our anger over to the one who loves us, Jesus.
I don’t know your story, but I know that He never abandons, leaves, or forsakes His children. I know that with Him, in Him, through Him, your pain is validated. He has collected each and every tear in a jar, and has felt the FULL weight of your pain.
Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
What will God do with the one who hurt you? I don’t know, but I do know that we can fully trust it to Him in sweet surrender, believing that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords sees what we don’t see, hears what we don’t hear, knows what we don’t know. He is sovereign. Let Him handle what is His to handle, and cut the strings girl. There is no longer any need to drag around that cart behind you, the one that ties you to angry bitterness, that seethes into the everydayness of love and robs you of your joy.
Not any more it doesn’t! We are going to forgive sisters, not because it necessarily “feels” good, but because un-forgiveness could be exactly what is keeping us from “feeling” good! So here we go sisters, let’s dive in headfirst into the water of forgiveness!
Monday – Read Chapter 6, Learning Forgiveness, and Have a Happy Wonderful 4th of July! Thank you to all the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom! Enjoy some fireworks, and I can promise you I will be indulging in some watermelon – MY FAVORITE!
Tuesday – Answer Questions One and Two, and pop on over to my blog for a special post about what God has spoken to my heart concerning my own battles with forgiveness at www.myloveletter2god.blogspot.com
Wednesday – Question 3 is a two part doozy, but oh so good – check here today for a vlog…I will go ahead and give you a word of caution now in case you work ahead…there will be situations in which you will not want and/or need to contact the person you need to forgive – forgiving is not an option – but how and if we go about this specific step is an option…long story short – in some cases it would not be safe or in your best interest to approach this person
Thursday – Answer questions four and five, and pop back over here for a super big super treat!!!! Samantha Reed will be guest posting! I cannot even describe how much I love this girl. I always go to her blog which is www.fieldsgold.blogspot.comwhen I need some peace and soaking in God’s presence. Sam, girly, you possess the gift of making others feel welcomed and loved with your endearing words. Love you sister!
Friday – Stop by and leave a comment about which thought/attitude you have chosen to clothe yourself with and work on from Question 5, I can’t wait to see which ones you choose!
What would happen if you got up tomorrow, and promised yourself NO MATTER WHAT, you would refuse to harbor bitterness and/or anger towards ANYONE? I wonder how things would change? Try it? What have you got to lose?
Love and Blessings!!!!
Stephanie Clayton
www.myloveletter2god.blogspot.com
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Hi please pray for me, I a in The hospital my appendix ruptured and was like that three days before they got it out and part of mg colon and intestines
Praying for you!
Oh my girly, I am so sorry! Yes, I am praying!
I’m looking forward to the week & a new chapter. I’m ready to keep moving regardless of how many times I’ve been going back & forth on this. It’s a new week, a new day. It’s time to refocus again! I can honestly say that I’m not holding onto that root of bitterness & anger as tightly as I was before starting this journey. Everyone have a good 4th & stay safe.
What would happen if you got up tomorrow, and promised yourself NO MATTER WHAT, you would refuse to harbor bitterness and/or anger towards ANYONE?
Stephanie, what a challenge you have issued!! Thank you for giving me something to pray about this week, for I have someone in my life for whom this applies.
Hidden Joy girls, unforgiveness was one of the most difficult parts of my journey after my attack. I never EVER thought I could forgive the terrible acts done to me and words spoken to me. I never thought I could forgive my attacker for everything he stole from me that day in June. It took a LONG time. It required SURRENDER. It required TRUST. And as Stephanie writes in her post, it took COURAGE. But TIME, SURRENDER, TRUST, and COURAGE together brought me to a place of forgiveness and now a place of JOY and FREEDOM!!!
YOU CAN DO IT!!! Take one practical step today. God will be faithful to honor it.
Love,
Wendy
Wendy thank you once again for this book, for sharing your experience and your journey through healing. Part of Chapter 6 really got to me, one section in particular, have to process it all.
Hey Wendy! I am so gald this challeneged you! Someone challenged me with this a while back, and it truly changed the way I think. I LOVED this chapter, you are so wise sister
Love you girly!
Thank you Wendy, once again, for writing this book. I know Chapter 6 has been a struggle for me to read as it may have been a struggle for you to remember and write it and share it with us. Ironically, I have a few folks to forgive who are on my FB page as friends, thus I will be responding to things here for now on. I have to say that you are the first person through Jesus who has been able to reach my heart about this issue of forgiveness. Thank you. I’m actually going to see if I can sign up for the calls and listen to them up to now and continue….I think it would be a blessing. Thank you again and Happy 4th! Kristi
Joanna C. Praying for you. . Although I’m a chapter behind in my journal, I have one more entry and I’ll be caught up on my blog out of the shadows where my responses to this study are. There is a lot I’m learning about me, and a lot that I’ve let go of as well. I cant wait to see what this week reveals. Stephanie, thanks for being our leader this week.
I have read Chapter 6 already as my time to devote to this study is goingvto be shortened by a lot with my increase in hours at work!! It’s a powerful chapter, I felt a lot of emotions reading over chapter 6, still processing some of them and then will post one or two here, with the rest of my thoughts on my blog later today.
Pray for me please! Going through a marriage crisis.
Praying!
Will be praying!!!
Praying for you Alma! God is with you.
Looking forward to this week’s study. I listened to the conference call today and finished all the questions from Ch 5. Excellent stuff! Still looking for my verse to memorize. I am happy to say I have already memorized Isaiah 43:18-19, thanks to this study! Yeah! Praying for you ladies.
I have been fighting with forgiving my abuser for a very long time. I still see him so it is hard, but I do want to forgive him. I hate what he did to me, but I don’t hate him. If that makes any sense I hope this chapter will help to to work on forgiving him.
Shana
Shana, That does make sense. I too still see my abuser. That’s been harder to do since I’ve started this journey, I don’t quite know how to act or feel now that I’ve been going through these things in an attempt to heal from them. I guess we hate what they did to us but don’t hate them as the person they still are to us in our lives. I’m not sure that made sense! Hopefully you know what I mean. I’m tired tonight & have been fighting with a headache for the last two days. Have a good 4th tomorrow Shana!
thanks Tricia. I understand what you are saying. It made a lot of sense. Enjoy your day too.
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