A thought
by Erwin Raphael McManus (2003-09-04) from his book, Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (Kindle Location 1691). Thomas
Nelson. Kindle Edition.
How
about you? Have you experienced a time
of forgiveness and found that it had unlocked within you a new dimension of gratitude
and love? If you haven’t and you are experiencing
brokenness and hardness toward God and someone else maybe forgiveness is where
you start. Maybe you need to just humble
yourself and be honest and ask forgiveness from God for your sin and ask for forgiveness
of that person who you hurt. “Forgiveness
unlocks gratitude and gratitude unleashes love.”
I asked
Jesus to come personally into my life at 5.
To be honest, there weren’t a lot of sins for me to confess at 5 so I didn’t
for a lot of years appreciate what forgiveness was all about. But in my thirty’s I went through what I call
my jerk time. It was basically a time of
total self-centeredness and it eventually brought me to a time of resigning my staff
position at a large church. I then
started selling pizzas and started falling in love again with my family and
with God. At that point I found out
what forgiveness was all about. My gratefulness
and my love took on a total new dimension.
God
brought a very godly pastor into my life at that time who led me back to a life
of wholeness and healing. God forgave me
and Margaret forgave me and those relationships took on a total different
meaning in my life. I live each day with
deep gratitude and love because of their forgiveness.
How
about you? Have you experienced a time
of forgiveness and found that it had unlocked within you a new dimension of gratitude
and love? If you haven’t and you are experiencing
brokenness and hardness toward God and someone else maybe forgiveness is where
you start. Maybe you need to just humble
yourself and be honest and ask forgiveness from God for your sin and ask for forgiveness
of that person who you hurt. “Forgiveness
unlocks gratitude and gratitude unleashes love.”
That
was where it started for me. I asked both
God and Margaret to forgive me. God forgave me in an instant but it took some
time for Margaret. I had really hurt
her. I haven't deserved the years of standing before people each Sunday and sharing God's love and direction for their lives and for the extraordinary and exciting years with Margaret, my wife. I live each day with such gratitude
for their love and forgiveness.
So maybe
that is where you too should start?
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