Forgiving Yourself
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” “But the God of all grace, who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (I Peter 5:7, 10)
Do you find it hard to forgive yourself for the mistakes you’ve made in your life? Are you constantly beating yourself over them and always wondering “what if?” Does dwelling on these mistakes hinder you from moving forward in your life? Do you find it easy to forgive others and to seek God’s forgiveness? Do you always wish you could go back in time and do things differently?
If your answer is yes to any of these questions, rest assured, you’re not alone. I personally struggle with this on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s just so hard to let go of the guilt that I carry. Everyone who knows me, and knows my situation, know that I constantly beat myself up over certain things that have happened over the course of my life. I’m always being told “let it go” and “get past it.” I know what they say is true, but sometimes, it’s easier said than done. Unless someone has walked a mile in our shoes, it’s hard for them to understand why we carry those burdens.
I don’t know why we beat ourselves up this way. God never intended for it to be this way. We seek His forgiveness, but yet we can’t seem to let it go. When He forgives us, He removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12). We need to do the same thing. What’s done is done, and no matter how much we want to, we can’t change the past. If you are given an opportunity to right some of your wrongs, take it! But if the opportunity doesn’t come, then forgive yourself, ask God to forgive you (if you haven’t already) and move forward with your life.
Whatever you do, don’t let your past hold you back from living a better life. Don’t wallow in self-pity. Don’t stay stuck in yesterday or yesteryear. Admit your mistakes, learn from them, and use them as stepping stones to a new life in Christ Jesus.
Always on Time
Always on Time
Isaiah 55:8; Galatians 4:10
In our fast-paced world, just like the Burger King slogan says, we want everything “our way, right away”. We want instant wealth, and instant solutions to our problems. Forget “good things come to those who wait”. We want everything in an instant. But, sometimes instant doesn’t always mean better.
With God, things are not always instant. He does things His way, and in His own time. There’s nothing we can do to rush Him, either. God is never late, though. He’s always on time. Let me take you back in time to several instances where God was right on time…
In Daniel 3:23-25, God delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego from the fiery furnace. While in the midst of the fire, the king noticed them walking around, with nothing wrong with them, and with a being described as being in the form of the son of God.
SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO—DELIVERED, AND RIGHT ON TIME!
In Daniel 6:12-22, Daniel was cast into the den of lions for refusing to heed the king’s decree of not praying to any God for 30 days, except the king. Because of the stand he took, God protected Daniel by sending an angel to shut the mouths of the lions, and no harm befell Daniel.
DANIEL—DELIVERED, AND RIGHT ON TIME!
In John 11:43-44, after being dead four days, Jesus raised Daniel from the dead. Yes, Jesus could’ve been there to prevent Lazarus’ death, if He had so chosen. But, He decided to wait two days before He left for Judea, where Lazarus lived. Why, you ask? In order to glorify God, that’s why.
LAZARUS—DELIVERED AND RIGHT ON TIME!
There are many more instances in the Bible where God delivered, and right on time. His time, though, not our time. So, the next time you’re feeling discouraged about your situation, and feel as if God has abandoned you, just remember the deliverance stories mentioned in this newsletter, and others in the Bible. If He did it for them, I know He’ll do it for you.
Just like the Dottie People’s song says, “He may not come when you want Him, but He’s always right on time!”
Goodness AND Mercy by Aleysha Proctor
Goodness AND Mercy!
Psalms 23:6a “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!”
I once heard a pastor say that God’s goodness will give you the blessings that you don’t deserve and His mercy will keep off of you the punishment that you do deserve!
God’s goodness is described as His bounty (prosperity, provisions and richness) to whomever He chooses to show His goodness to. In many scripture passages, we see God’s goodness AND His mercy showing up at the same time.
In 2 Samuel 11, King David has taken another man’s wife (Bathsheba) and she conceives a child by him while her husband is away on the battle field. David then brings her husband home and tries to get him to go home and spend some time with his wife. When Uriah, her husband, doesn’t do as David hopes he will, he then has him placed on the front line of the hottest battle to make certain that Bathsheba becomes a widow and then he can have her as his own wife.
When the prophet Nathan spoke to David about his sins in 2 Samuel 12, he spoke in a parable about a rich man with many flocks taking a poor man’s one little lamb for his own. King David becomes angry and says whoever has done this will surely die! And Nathan said, “King David, you are that man!” He then points out how God has been GOOD to him by saying in verse 7, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!” Get that! God said if after all of the blessings I’ve already showered you with wasn’t enough, I would have given you MUCH MORE! That’s God’s Goodness giving David things that he didn’t deserve!
Then here comes God’s mercy towards David, in verse 13b it says, “And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” That’s God’s Mercy – keeping the punishment that he did deserve away from him!
It’s no wonder that King David said in Psalms 23, “SURELY, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!” Surely! As in being a done-deal. Imagine that! As we go about in our daily lives, God’s goodness AND mercy are following right behind us! God showing His goodness by giving us what we don’t deserve, and extending His mercy to us by keeping off of us what we do deserve.
As a Believer in Christ, it’s not either/or, it’s BOTH!
© Aleysha R. Proctor 2009
Life’s Stumbling Blocks
Life’s Stumbling Blocks
Matthew 11:29-30
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
On my desk at work sits a card that is part of a collection called Recipes for the Soul. It’s entitled “Bumpy Road Ahead” and it reads, “In order to endure, you will need resilience and discipline.” It also includes a phrase from a man named Jack Penn that says, “One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.”
That phrase is so true. It’s a given that at sometime in our life, we will come upon many stumbling blocks. They will come at us in the form of heartache, trials, tribulations, and many other forms. But, we shouldn’t let these stumbling blocks hinder us from moving forward in our lives, or from enjoying the many blessings God has bestowed upon us.
If you are in the midst of a time where it seems like there is nothing but stumbling blocks, I urge you to be strong and hold on to God’s unchanging hand. Things will get better. You will fall, but all you have to do is get right back up. God is there waiting for you with outstretched arms. He never intended for us to face the trials of life alone. He wants us to come to Him, lean on Him, and let Him take care of it all.
Let me leave you with some words from some of my favorite gospel songs. First, as James Bignon tells us, “There is a blessing on the other side of through and that what God has in store for you is better than what you are going through.” Secondly, Donnie McClurkin tells us, “When you’ve done all you can do, you just stand.”
