"As water reflects a face, so one's life reflects the heart" Proverbs
It is an inevitable side effect of being human that we will hurt others and they will hurt us. Sometimes it will be deliberate and at other times it will be the sad side swipe of our own or their own incapacity to deal with life.
It's what we do with that hurt that can radically influence our life by the Spirit. Do we hold onto it letting it work it's damages on our thinking and behaviour. Or are we going to allow ourselves to be different, allow ourselves to be people of the Kingdom?
Sometimes we want to hang onto our hurt because we get an almost masochistic pleasure feeling from turning it over in our mind. And it can be convenient to blame somebody else for what is going on in our life.
We can break that cycle of despair or oppression if we choose to. Some changes are always in our power to make. And in addition there is God's life changing Holy Spirit power available in forgiveness.
Believe me I know what I am talking about. I am the son of a chronic alcoholic and for a long time I held onto (in a spirit of unforgiveness) the damages he had caused to my life. But it was through listening to God's father heart and his teaching on forgiveness, that I learnt that I could surrender that hurt and let God's grace work on it and change my inner life. It was a slow process but I have received my inner healing and I want you to know that, if you dare, you can receive yours.
I think it is essential to the life of the Spirit to ask God who we should be forgiving and also to ask who we have offended.
Once we have his answer (our heart will also help us know who) there are two actions that we need to take. Pray hard for God's grace to change your heart, so that you are given by Jesus the desire to forgive.
When you have reached the moment. Find a wise person and discuss how you can take it forward. God might give you the desire to verbalise your forgiveness but for it to be sincere we have to do it with due consideration. Years or decades may have elapsed since we received the hurt or inflicted the hurt.
I urge you to let God speak to you on this whole area. Remember he is like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Ready to come out on the road to welcome you back. Luke 15:11-32
I wish peace to your heart this day as God speaks to you. May you understand life can be different and that the Holy Spirit has healing powers for us. May the Spirit visit you as you think about this. Amen
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