Have you ever met someone or seen a person at a gathering and known immediately that they didn’t like you? I’m talking about someone you never met, have had no personal interaction with, and their facial expressions and body language just shout, “Stay away from me.” I’ve had more encounters like this than I can count in my life. There was a time when I would have stewed over them. I would have wondered if I had bad breath, if I was dressed inappropriately, if my deodorant stopped working, and all kinds of self-depreciating thoughts. I may have wondered how I could win these people over and convince them of my redeeming qualities. No. More. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but I decided
Every situation that we will face in this life is meant to teach us something. Nothing ever happens to us that has not been filtered lovingly through the fingers of our God. We have free will, therefore we get to make decisions all along the way regarding who we allow into our hearts, which way we’ll turn at any fork in the road, and how long we’ll stay when we reach a certain destination. We’re never being held captive, except to our own desires. Because we have a history of fickleness, we look for someone else to blame when things don’t go exactly as we planned or hoped. Rack up enough disappointment in your life and you’re bound to become fearful. You make decisions slowly if at all. You
I’ve joked before that my husband says I hold a grudge like a glass holds water. He says that because I have a hard time with forgiveness. I like to receive it but I struggle to give it. Because I wasn’t always authentic about what I was feeling while I was feeling it, I allowed hurt to fester in my spirit. How many of you realize that cancer is like a rebellious cell and it just takes over after a while. You’re not even aware of it but it’s constantly multiplying, splitting, and dividing. Unforgiveness is the same way. When we don’t speak our truth and give people a chance to correct things while they’re fresh, offense is left to brew like a strong cup of tea. People around me would move on
