The Wonderful Gift of Forgiveness!

Its true that to experience God's forgiveness is the greatest event that happens in a persons life. I often tell people that when I served the devil I was a great servant. There was alot of forgiving God had to do when He forgave me. His forgiveness is a wonderful gift.

The great thing about His gift is that He expects us to pass it on as necessary while we live on this Earth. If there is anything ministry has taught me...it is that you are going to hurt people even if you don't intend on it. Not only that, but people are going to hurt you as well.

This past year has been amazing...actually the past couple months is what I want to zero in on in this blog. Near the end of November God really began to deal with my heart about trusting Him uncoditionally. I assumed it was for provision and jobs that I was applying for. None of those jobs panned out but God began to provide. In the midst of what I thought was a test to trust Him for provision was actually something much larger.

In the past couple years the situation with our church hurt alot of people. Confused alot of people. Ticked off a few people. And, unfortunately, brought the worst out in some people. In the mess we lost alot of people because of the outright instability. In hind sight I don't blame them...it just hurt because to my face it was we're with you...we're with you...we're with you.

Recently, God laid on my heart that there was some forgiveness I needed to extend to people that had done me wrong. Some of them I have located...others are yet to be spoken too. About a month ago I was in Waffle House with my son. We saw a pastor that I had developed an attitude towards because I felt like he had split a church...I was brought up that church splitting was just something that staff pastors should never do. Regardless, he and I had lunch a while back I made a comment about why he did what he did, and he made a comment about certain churches, and I took it to heart because my church was in that category. When I saw him in Waffle House the Lord spoke to my heart to pull him aside and talk to him. I did and he forgave me. It was only the beginning of what God was about to do.

Forgiving Word of Life has been a process...they hurt me and alot of other good people. But, I can say God has helped me to forgive them. I hope to either write them a letter or talk to them personally if God allows.

While the Word of Life ordeal was going down. We took in a pastor who had fallen. We grew close to he and his family. As we grew closer I developed a sense about him that he was not trustworthy. Until this point he and I had been friends for years. When I felt like he was trying to cause me problems I had to confront him. It got ugly. I don't regret confronting him...I regret what I said...how I said it...and a position I took. When he began another church I told my wife if God honors what he does I am getting out of the ministry. There was alot to this story that I am not sharing, but trust me it was messy. Over the past month I would see him out and about...we gave each other a friendly wave. Then, God began to put it on my heart to forgive him. I fought it...then his wife showed up on our door step with a miracle in her hand. You see our family has really struggled financially with the problems the church had gone through...the past month has been amazing as I have trusted unconditionally and forgiven people...His provision was becoming more obvious. In her hand was a gift of a few hundred dollars...they had heard we were struggling. I knew it was time to forgive, and leave whatever happened in that church up to God.

Today...someone who I absolutely did not trust was riding around my subdivision...they pulled me over while I was running and said they were looking for me. She said she came from Dothan to let me know she forgave me and asked me to forgive her for all the problems that had occured. It blessed my heart to see God was also working in the hearts of others.

Forgiveness is a wonderful gift! The truth is found in scripture...if we don't forgive others, then how can our Heavenly Father forgive us! Well, I hope this encourages you as I know God is doing something.