Forgiveness Generates Healing

The act of forgiveness is the beginning of creating your testimony. More times than not our testimonies are built out of our hardships and sorrows. Sometimes the greatest testimony is not having to face hardships the way others do, but I believe the deeper the scar the greater the Victory! Everything I thought was my nightmare growing up became my testimony, my miracle, my victory. I call it my victory because through accepting Christ as my Savior I have received healing, grace, mercy and love. Although it took me years to realize it and the act of continuously pressing into His word and praying to even find out who God was for me. I didn't know how to begin to heal from tragedy, nor did I ever think I could. To be honest, there were many years in my life that I refused healing, I refused a breakthrough in forgiveness because I wanted to be angry. I wanted to hate every person that ever hurt me or did me wrong. In my minds view, if I hated them then they were suffering just as they had made me suffer. 

When in reality they are not suffering because you hate them. Most people do not even realize you hate them. Even the ones who intentionally hurt you live their lives without thinking of how much they offended or abused you. God bless the offenders who have sought forgiveness by the ones they hurt and Gods forgiveness. I have been on both sides of the fence. I have been terribly hurt in my childhood but I have also hurt others. Which ever the case forgiveness is an absolute in the Kingdom of God. When I think of generating absolute forgiveness I consider the amount of forgiveness that Christ had to display to those who crucified Him? Yet His sacrifice,  His hardships and His sorrow has become a testimony to our victory! We are the ones who benefit from His forgiveness, just as He would want others to benefit from the forgiveness that you are asked to display to one another.  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Remember that refusing to forgive is just as sinful as those who have sinned against us. Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

I always thought if I forgave the mean and evil ones than that meant they get away scott free from hurting people and that's not the case. You see our job is to allow God to handle the bad guys. Just as it's our job to protect our children, it is the Fathers job to protect you. Your only job is to forgive the offender and trust God to do His will in both our lives and the offenders life. When you forgive you are releasing any authority the offender has over you. Sometimes that offender is even you. I have on a few occasions had to learn the act of forgiveness toward myself, and for me self forgiveness was the hardest of all. Ephesians 4:32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

I also had to learn that the act of forgiveness did not mean association. Just because you forgive does not mean you have to continue to associate and allow the hurt to continue.  For me the act of forgiveness is a huge step in peeling away the hurt that holds you down. I want my life to be significant in many ways and being bitter and angry is not one of the things I want to be known for. I want to be known as a person who loves and helps others despite who they are or what they have done. I don't want to waist my energy on bitterness when there are so many people out there that can heal from my story. I would rather fill peoples lives with joy then sorrow. My story may sound similar to others but it's my own. It's a life that no one else has lived but me and the ones around me. I used to think that my story wasn't important until God showed me differently. There may be some people who will not be interested in hearing my story or reading the things I write and that's okay because God has had and will continue to have the people in place who will benefit from my testimony. Even if my story only encourages one person then I'm good with trusting that that's the person God intended it for. God has created my testimony to bring healing and salvation to others just as He has yours. A testimony that belongs to no one else. As a result of my obedience to God's word to forgive there have been lives changed.

When I think about the Joy I have found in being free it makes me smile. I don't know how many times have I stated that God can't use me, I have no gifts, I have nothing to give? Well allow me to tell you from someone who spent their lives feeling that way that your testimony is exactly where God is going to begin. I can understand certain situations  because I've experienced those situations for myself. I can relate to child abuse in different forms.  I can relate to being torn down by words spoken, but now I choose to believe who God says that I am and I choose to use those experiences to help others. I bet that most women who run the battered women's shelters have been battered themselves or they were close to someone who was. In my opinion that's using your testimony to help others. Instead of staying angry they took that anger and negativity and changed it into a positive. That's how you go from being a victim to being victorious. I loved watching that show intervention. Not only did I love to see the people get clean and stayed clean, but the majority of recovery addicts go on to help others who are addicts. As a matter of fact if you've ever watched the show all of the people who run the interventions have been addicts themselves. Some of them probably don't even realize that they are using their testimony to bring Glory to God. They don't even know that it is God that is equipping them to do what they do. I am a firm believer that our hardships, our sorrows and our situations are what equip us in the Kingdom of God.

As I have recently experienced great deal of heartache with the passing of a very close friend, but even in my sorrow I was taken back by the amount of people who were affected by her passing. She was a person of love and sacrifice, but also experienced great heartache most of her life. Even before accepting Christ she chose to use her experiences to help others. She never wanted to see anyone left out or abandoned, hungry or cold. I also noticed that some of the people who loved her felt tremendous guilt for not being there, for not always coming around or showing how much they cared. I was one of them. What I did learn was that as our lives manifest into the testimony God is creating we go in different directions from those we love. Me moving away and going where God has called me did not make me a bad friend. As a matter of fact it made me appreciate her more. Distance does make the heart grow fonder in most cases. She absolutely knew how much I loved her but I'm not quit sure she knew the magnitude of how many people loved her and were affected by her in a great way. Isn't that the truth with most of us? In most cases we live our lives doing what we do not realizing the effect we have on the ones we come in contact with. I once heard someone say that we will make an impact on everyone we meet. Whether it's only for a few seconds or several years our responses and actions can make a difference in the responses and actions of another person. So would you rather teach people that anger and bitterness is the road to take or would you rather see others flourish by something you have said or done?

 I would rather see others flourish and grow to achieve whatever accomplishment God has placed before them. So I ask you to take your hurts and pains to the throne room of God and lay them at His feet. Matthew 15:30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. No amount of pain is too great for God to heal. Healing belongs to you and you deserve it. Healing doesn't always happen instantly, so as a wise woman said to me recently be good to yourself and be patient. . I urge you to love yourself enough to be set free from unforgiveness and bitterness. Forgiveness generates healing which in turn produces the freedom that created miracles out of you and me. 

                                                                                  Karen Hurl

                                                                                   02/10/16