Thursday, June 24, 2010

"Mom, I forgive you"

If you listen to no other broadcast, I encourage you to listen to today's. One such caller was calling again, just to update the listeners on her situation. She called  several days ago, at the tail end of the program, hurt and nearly crushed with the pain her mom inflicted on her. The caller and her mom never had a good relationship, until the caller was diagnosed with cancer. Throughout the entire cancer ordeal, the mom was there for her. However, later, after the cancer went into remission, the mom resumed her behavior of shunning the daughter, and denying any relationship with her. As I listened to her story, my heart broke for her. Have you, or anyone you know ever gone through this? To have a parent/guardian just cast you aside, I cannot fathom that. At least not to that degree.

The elation for me came, though, on this afternoon's broadcast. She calls back, and announced that she's decided to forgive her mom for the heartache. After all, she reasoned, if Jesus can forgive her of all of her short comings, why couldn't she forgive her mom of the mom's shortcomings? I have to applaud this caller. I wonder if she knows how much of an encouragement she was to someone she didn't know?

Listening to her made me re-evaluate my own mindset of forgiveness. Of course, we've all had hurts given us, and if we were really honest, we've hurt other folks, as well. One thing that has helped me forgive people who've hurt me, is to look at them as they truly are. Not who they think they are, but who they truly are. Who are they? They are someone that Christ died for. If they're a sibling in Christ who just happens to be acting like a dork, we just realize that we've acted like dorks as well, and just offer our attitude to God, to work His will in us, to forgive them. If the people that have hurt us are NOT a Child of God, then we recognize that behavior for what it is, and know that God loves them, just as much as He loves us. Although we can't muster up that love or forgiveness on our own, we can trust God to be faithful to work those parts of the fruit of the spirit through us. Mind you, this isn't to say that we and the people that have hurt us will be bosom buddies, but rather, we can be at peace with them. I've had good friends that have hurt me deeply, and we've all gone our separate ways. Years after the incident took place, we both wound up at a meeting at the same time, and the ceiling didn't fall in, with us being under the same roof. Did we speak? No. Did we acknowledge each other? No. But, it was comforting to know that we can co-exist calmly as the children of God we both are, knowing God has the other one in His hand. On the other hand, I have had good friends that have hurt me deeply, that I've chosen to forgiven, and we retained our friendship. Forgiveness, as the show host mentioned today, was to 'send the offense away'. Forgiving someone, even a close family member, doesn't necessarily mean a reconciliation, but rather, the ability to live at peace with the offending party, both on the inside, and the outside.

What about you? Is there someone in your life that has hurt you deeply? Has God helped you to forgive them? Perhaps you feel they deserve the treatment you've retaliated with. Is this really what God wants for them? For you? Even though the hurt may run deep, and you're scared to trust them, it's okay to trust God. Love the offending party, forgive the offending party, and trust God to take care of the details.

4 comments:

  1. Kids today Blame their parents for everything ,Maybe this kid was guilt tripping,Blaming,discounting all the good that she did , not accepting apologies. Mabye the mother just had enough and was tired of being treated bad . Sometimes parents just have to walk away from their kids until they grow up enough to forgive them and treat them with respect .

    Kids today are being brainwashed by feminist,hollywood,youtube,etc. They are told they need to go back and examine their past instead of listening to what god says, to forget whats behind and move forward .

    Im glad to that this girl finaly is comming around and seeing that she is a sinner and not perfect also ! thank you lord jesus !

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  2. Hi there!
    So true--everyone wants to play the blame game. In this particular scenario, we only got one side of the story. The mother indeed was there throughout the cancer ordeal, then when all was fine, the rift was opened again. The listening audience doesn't know exactly what happened, and yes, we can only speculate.
    If we know that people are not treating us the way we'd like to be treated, the shoe also fits on the other foot. We don't always treat people the way they'd like for us to. However, as a child of God, we can be assured that the Holy Spirit is nudging us to allow the love of God to flow through us, on towards others. Often times the first step is to truly forgive those who have hurt us, (whether real or imaginary hurts)
    Thank you for your comment :-)

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  3. I know of a woman who blamed all her mistakes failures on her father . She grew up in the fifties and sixties got into drugs and was brainwashed by the feminist movement . Her father was a very stong man and a real good provider .He was very nice to . He was the "old timer " type . he was not chauvinist,but,believed in old time values .

    This lady was very vocal and would go around telling people how she grew up in a disfunctional family and blame him for all her mistakes .She would try to pull her sisters in the drama and turn them against him. This of course embarrassed him ,Hurt him very bad ,and caused him alot of stess,yet he never shunned her . He always tried to reason with her but it was like trying to reason with a brick . It was almost as if she was trying to break him because he was a strong male .He died at 74. I think she contibuted to him dieing so young . that of course is just my opinion .

    Its hard for me to accept this woman . She didn't accept responsibility for her own life and mistakes that she chose to make . she was a drug addict , A prostitute , a scammer . She did this all on her own !

    Then she got married to a man who helped her get clean and out of drugs . She started having an affair with a "christian man " got divorced , went to court and demanded alimony and got it. She married the christian man and bacame a "christian" then went around telling everyone they shouldn't do this and shouldn't do that .
    Now she has a big head and teats her family members like they are lower than her because she lives in a half million dollar home and has lots of money .

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  4. My goodness! How sad, for both the lady in question and her family :-( Sadly, Christians aren't immune to the works of the flesh, either, and often times, when we find ourselves walking after the works of the flesh, the root can be tied to unbelief. Unbelief that when God said He's given us everything we need for life and Godliness, it's not true. Unbelief in the fact that God loves us so much, He is willing to live with and in us NOW, not just when we die and go to heaven.
    When seeing a person live in this sort of persona (the pot calling the kettle black, so to speak) it can make us angry. How dare this woman put her father through what she did! How dare she have an affair, "become a Christian", then start telling everyone else about their sin?
    I'd be curious, as to her (and perhaps the husband's) understanding of Eternal Life; of the Gospel that saves..Lots of Christians come to Christ for forgiveness; and perhaps a 'get out of hell free card", but miss the abundant life that God has for us now--while living on this earth.
    Perhaps, God is working secretly in her heart, and not open for public viewing for right now. We'll see where God leads in this woman's life..
    Thanks for stopping by!

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