We have spent a lot of time this week looking at the different sides of forgiveness; when you need to be forgiven, how to forgive yourself, forgiving others, forgiveness as a natural reaction, and grace with forgiveness. One of the best views of forgiveness is in the rear view mirror. The satisfaction of knowing, I didn’t think I could do that, and really I couldn’t; it was a God moment.
My husband uses this phrase a lot; “every nightmare is a great story once it’s over.” So true isn’t it? Forgiveness is the same way; having surrendered our hearts by walking out grace in action to let something or someone go. It is a victory worth celebrating and a story worth repeating. It is a pleasant sight in the rear view mirror.
The other thing that stands out to me is the further down the road you get from the moment of forgiveness, the less you remember of the depth of the pain. You always remember it as a place of difficulty, but if true healing has taken place, then your memory is usually kind to you. Your tone even changes as you tell the story, there are seasoned words of grace and compassion woven in where there once were words of sarcasm, criticism and anger. Forgiveness, it changes the story.
Ephesians 2:7-10 from The Message, “7Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
I love this version of these verses. He does all the making and saving, we do the giving up and the letting go. I challenge you to carry forward a life of forgiveness every day. The best part about it, is getting a glimpse of God’s miraculous work in the rear view mirror.
Today’s worksheet: handout 9_27_2013
Love being in the Word with you!
Cheryl J
Cheryl Jamison / For His Name's Sake 
I recently was listening and empathizing with a gal that my older daughter nanny’s for . My daughter asked me to please speak with her since we sadly share a similar situation of “Surviving your worst nightmare” Shortly after that conversation my daughter came to me and said that her employer could not believe how I could speak compassion and kindness about the one who had deeply hurt and offended me. It dawned on me today, when reading our devotional that with God’s forgiveness and grace I am beginning to look in the rear view mirror.
Good morning all and thank you for letting me be a part of this unbelievable experience that it seems that the more I go through in daily life and my past experiences let me have more strength in holding on to Jesus and follow His teachings and the wonderful word that is my/our inheritance and the one that If continue in this path will lead me to be on the right side next to Jesus next to the Father. I have found out that it is my responsibility and I am accountable for my actions and when I don’t do what Jesus want me to do. So, In the case of forgives my greatest deepest prayer is Jesus to free me of my feelings of regret when I have forgotten and when really hurt I come back to feeling the same way even though I have forgiven.
This lesson of the week is teaching in how to honestly leave my fights at the feet of Jesus and carry on, but really meaning it, I know I will be victorious but I need to keep my eyes set on My Savior.
Have a bless and beautiful weekend.
Much in love in Christ my sisters.
The last line From a favorite prayer “A Cry for Deliverance” in A Valley of Vision:
Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.