Thursday, November 24, 2011

Leaving Bitterness and Unforgiveness Behind

It's Thanksgiving and the turkey is in the oven!  Every year I'm so surprised at how fast the holidays seem to come.  Time just keeps flying by. There is so, so, so much to be grateful for.  I'm grateful God is doing a work in my heart about not holding grudges.  It's not fun going through life and watching your back.  I'm learning that no matter how many people have hurt me, everyone's been hurt.  It's impossible to go through this life and never be offended.  Pain from others doesn't give me permission to be bitter and unforgiving.  My God is a forgiving God and has forgiven me of a far greater debt.  I've listened to some parts from a book called The Bait of Satan via audio.  It was amazing and I need to invest in buying my own copy.  With as fast as time flies and how fast these holidays come around, it's not worth shutting people out because of hurt.  Especially when we don't know if this is the last time we will celebrate Thanksgiving with them.  We have no way of knowing.  Just on Facebook this morning a friend posted "Asking prayers to go up today for a family with 10 children, as their father and husband passed away last night of a massive heart attack, very unexpectedly."   I cried and prayed when I heard this news.  Friends, instead of worrying about who did what in the past, remember how much Christ loves them so much more.  Holding onto bitterness twists us up inside and hurts us more than it hurts them.  We never know if this is our last chance to see someone we love (or used to love) and celebrate Thanksgiving.

So, I'm thankful God has put this on my heart as a start to healing and moving on.  Love ya and have an awesome Thanksgiving!  This year embrace someone you haven't in awhile (without strangling them. haha).

4 comments:

Tereza said...

Happy thanks giving to you!

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Whoa! PRAYERS for that family, Virginia. This is the time to make sure YOU have good life insurance on Charles. People like to joke about it but seriously do check after Thanksgiving is over.

Love to you and your family.

PS the chairs look lovely. You should have told the hardware store man you felt that morning sickness and needed to get back to your SIX OTHER CHILDREN. lol thank youuuuuu.

Mary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary said...

Jen, Your Mother is very Happy to read these words. Keep up the great attitude :-) And I will also try to keep it up on my end.
(I think of the Lords Prayer)..
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.. Forgiveness needs to be alot of times, a daily ritual, being that offences will be something we will have to deal till we are in Glory! AND WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!!