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choosing forgiveness

Mother Hugs The Man Who Killed Her Son And Says, “It’s More Important To Love And Forgive”

by Le-Jovale Vallejo January 17, 2023

A mother hugs the man who killed her son and decided to forgive him. Her reason? It was because Jesus forgave her sins, too.

Melanie Washington

Melanie grew up in a cruel home environment. She was just eight years old when her stepfather molested her. During that time, she didn’t tell anyone. Not even her mother. But when she saw that her sister was a victim, too, she immediately told her.

Melanie’s mother kicked her stepfather out of the house. All was well, and both siblings were finally relieved to see the perpetrator out of the picture.

Until he came back the next day and killed her.

Melanie lived with guilt for most years of her life.

“I was the one who told my mother that he was doing this,” Melanie explains. “She put him out, and then he came back and killed her the day after Thanksgiving. I went through a life of never forgiving myself for that. I kept telling my mother, “I’m sorry.”

Even when Melanie became a wife, the guilt was still inside her. She couldn’t forgive herself! Two months after being married, her husband started beating her physically.

Again, she blamed herself for that.

Photo Courtesy: Melanie Washington Instagram | _matfa

Melanie decided to move out

The only time Melanie had the courage to leave her husband was because she had two sons. She wanted them to be safe from abuse.

“But I was pretty much messed up in my mind,” she says. “I was thinking about all the mistakes that I had made. It seemed like all I had done was messed up people’s lives.”

She turned to drugs that eventually got overdose. When she was ready to face death, she suddenly heard a voice.

“Melanie, Melanie, my name is Jesus,” he said. “If you follow me, I’ll show you the way.”

Not knowing how to respond, she said “okay.”

“The next morning, I was alive!”

After that day, she surrendered her heart to Jesus as her LORD and Savior and experienced being born again in the Spirit.

God changed her life and she quit drugs. He compelled her to forgive everyone including herself. She realized that the guilt she felt didn’t come from God and that it was just hurting herself.

Mother hugs the man who killed her son

But her desire to forgive was tested when she received the news that her son had been killed.

“I thought “no way!” I fought God, Jesus and anything else. ‘I’m the one that’s messed up people’s lives. Take me,’” Melanie said.

After bargaining with God, she finally surrendered and fell on her face.

“I asked God to forgive me,” she says. “How stupid could I be? Jesus died on the cross for me, and I really went through everything and spiritually I was changed. The Holy Spirit just changed me.”

So, Melanie decided to help people like the man who killed her son.

During the trial, she had the chance to speak to him. “When Donte came out, he was really tall, and he hugged me,” she said. “I found myself putting my arm around him.”

She added that she didn’t see Donte as a murderer. “I felt my son. I called him my son from that day on.”

She said to Donte: “You may have taken my son’s life, but God has given me yours.”

Today, Melanie ministers to people like Donte and brings Jesus to the hopeless and dark places.

Photo Courtesy: Melanie Washington Instagram | _matfa

Reference: God Reports

January 17, 2023 0 comment

Faith Today's Encouragement

The Power Of Forgiveness

by GOD TV January 14, 2023

written by GOD TV

One of the most powerful weapons that we have in the Kingdom, is the power of forgiveness; the ability to release others from offenses that they’ve created against us. It’s amazing how much your life will change when you offer forgiveness to someone else.

And for example, I remember it wasn’t too long ago where I was laying in bed and I was just recapping in my mind an injustice that had happened to one of my family members and just replaying in my mind this event that had taken place. And I remember just feeling so tense about it and just very upset at what should have happened and what should have been said. And they weren’t the things that were happening and the things that were said. And I just felt this turmoil inside of me. And I felt the gentle nudge from the Lord saying, “It’s time to forgive. It’s time to forgive.” And, and I’ll be really honest with you, at the time, I just didn’t want to do it, but I was obedient and I told the Lord, “Okay, God, I’ll forgive.”

And I started walking through the process of forgiving this person for things that they weren’t asking forgiveness for. And the more I began to forgive, the more that feeling of turmoil completely lifted off of me. And it was replaced by this peace. And I remember the Lord pushing me even further and saying, “Okay, now bless them.” And I thought, oh man, that’s a stretch. But I knew it was the right thing to do, and I just started to bless that person and to pray for good things over and in their life. And I fell asleep that night with the most complete peace that I’d had since the incident had happened.

I think about Jesus when He’s in the middle of being crucified, you know, we’re putting everything on Him. None of it was deserving. In Luke 23:34, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” You know, He was at the most crucial point in His life, going to death on a cross for our sins, and He was able to forgive. If Christ can forgive us of that, how much more can we forgive somebody for things that they’ve done to us? And in return, not only do we release them, but we actually release ourselves. And it’s one of the most powerful things we can walk in, is forgiveness. We no longer have the traps holding our feet. We no longer are tethered to the situation or the injustice. We become free and we can live in peace.

So I just want to pray over you today. If you’re walking in something where you know that God’s calling you to forgive, take that next step of obedience. Even if it’s hard, let Him walk you through it. And I promise you, not only will you free that person, but you’re going to free yourself. So, God, I just pray for your leading and forgiveness. God, walk us through the difficulty until we feel the peace of your presence over us. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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January 14, 2023 0 comment

Faith Spotlight

Woman’s Ankle Healed After Choosing Forgiveness

by Sarah Crockett November 8, 2022

written by Sarah Crockett

Jesus died so that we could be reconciled to the Father. The reconciliation He purchased wasn’t just a ticket into Heaven. Jesus died to reconcile our body, soul, and spirits right now!

Galatians 5:1 – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

The opposite of freedom is slavery. Galatians 5:1 instructs us to “not let yourselves be burdened…by a yoke of slavery“. When we hold onto unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment we are burdening ourselves with “a yoke of slavery“.

Healing from slavery

I was serving on the prayer line at the end of a service when a young woman came up to me for prayer. She hobbled over on crutches and had a brace on her ankle. Not wanting to assume, I asked her what she would like prayer for. She confirmed that she would like prayer for her injured ankle.

I asked permission to touch her ankle and she agreed. I kneeled down and spoke to the pain in her ankle like Jesus modeled in the Bible, “pain leave in Jesus name.” Nothing happened. Pray again. Again, nothing happened. I stood up and asked the Holy Spirit, “What do I do now?” It was then I heard His still small voice, “Ask her if there is anything else she would like prayer for.” She quickly replied, with “regret”.

I didn’t need to know the details of what she was regretting. Jesus knew. I led her through forgiving herself for the choices that she had made. As she released the unforgiveness she had held towards herself I could see her countenance brightening.

Healing her ankle

After praying through forgiveness, I ask the Holy Spirit what to do next. The story of Jesus praying for the blind man twice came to mind (Mark 8:22-26). I figured Jesus is the model and if he prayed twice for the blind man’s eyes then I could pray for the young woman’s ankle again.

Father God had just released His love. The love of God is powerful so I decided to lean into it as I prayed for her ankle. I knelt down again and laid my hand on her foot and began to meditate on the love of God. I didn’t say a word, but merely leaned in the powerful, loving presence that we were both experiencing.

After a few moments I asked her to check her ankle and see if there were any changes. She put weight on her ankle and began to twist it back and forth. All the pain was G-O-N-E! The young woman took off her ankle brace and walked out of the church!!!

Image Source: Empower Your Run

November 8, 2022 0 comment

Faith Today's Encouragement

Forgiveness Breaks Strongholds

by GOD TV October 31, 2022

written by GOD TV

Hi guys, it’s me, Lindy-Ann Hopley from Beautiful Witness Ministries. And I wanna tell you about a word that I think we should use way more in the church. The F word…”Forgive.” Oh, somebody. Listen here. If you wanna be caught up, hook, line, and sinker by the enemy, you gotta harbor them unforgiveness. Okay? When we have unforgiveness in our heart, I’m telling you, it is like the eternal pimple on the inside that is just oozing out. And you do not want that. Believe me. I watch so many people grab onto unforgiveness and they’re holding it in. And guess what? It comes out on everyone else around it.

I’ve seen it in my own life. I remember one time, I was so irritated with everyone, and at one point I was like, “God, what’s wrong with me? Like, what’s going on?” He’s like, “You’ve got unforgiveness.” And it literally is like a seed that gets planted and suddenly these little fruit pops out and it’s like, What’s going on? And I just say, “God, who do I need to forgive?” And He was like, “Your grandma. She called you ‘fat’ at the Christmas table.” I was like, “She did.” And it’s so small and it’s so basic and it’s things that you think, well everyone kind of says that kind of stuff. But you know, it can lodge in us and it can create a problem.

So I wanna encourage you today, if you are seeing fruit popping up in your life’s, especially if it’s a recurring one, sometimes it really is to do with one little seed and one little place of unforgiveness that we’ve gotta take care of. And I simply sit with the Lord and I say, “God, who do I need to forgive?” I don’t think about it, because often, especially as Christians, we got no problems. Mm-hmm, innocent, guilt-free. Yay. But actually, when we sit with the Father, He’ll say, “You know what? You actually still have unforgiveness here.”

So just take a moment and ask Him, “God, is there someone I need to forgive?” And He’ll show you. And maybe you say, “Man, I can’t forgive them.” I was just encouraging a friend recently and he was telling me, “Well I actually want them dead.” And I was like, Okay. We actually also can get caught up in a stronghold of unforgiveness where we actually have to say, “God, I ask you to bind up the strong man of unforgiveness, hatred, and bitterness.”

And I speak that over you right now. If that’s you, we take authority over those demonic principalities trying to ensnare you. And it’s time to use the F word against the devil and say, “Forgive.” ‘Cause when you forgive, guess what? It’ll totally dislodge him and all his authority on your life. And just say, “God, I choose to forgive those people. I release them now.” And maybe it’s gonna come up again and again. But I wanna encourage you. Don’t stop until that word is in full motion and action and you know that you have forgiven and you are free. Freely we have received forgiveness and freely we give it. We don’t deserve it. Neither do they. But we give it as a gift of grace as our Lord and Savior did. I love you and I forgive you. God bless you from me, Lindy-Ann. Bye bye.

________

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October 31, 2022 0 comment

Faith Today's Encouragement

Choosing Forgiveness

by GOD TV October 8, 2022

written by GOD TV

We’ve been talking about breakthrough. We’ve been talking about a couple of different ways to pursue it in our life to see it. And today I wanna talk about something that we don’t always want to talk about. And that is forgiveness. Forgiveness is a powerful key to breakthrough in your life. So stay with me, hear me out. I want to teach you how to do it and how to recognize when you need forgiveness, when you need to maybe forgive somebody that’s holding you back from your breakthrough.

So, in Matthew 18, Peter is asking Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. And Jesus tells him seventy times seven. That’s a lot of times! So basically, always. We should always forgive somebody. That doesn’t mean that they have the same access, but you should always hold forgiveness in your heart. Stay unoffendable because offense and unforgiveness in your heart only harms you. It only harms you. Forgiveness is a choice. Forgiveness is something that we get to choose in our lives.

You’ve probably heard the quote from Joyce Meyer, but I love it because it’s so true. And it’s so powerful. It’s, “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping that somebody else dies.” I mean, think about that. Forgiveness and unforgiveness is for us. Okay. And so this for me was hard to recognize for a little while. I used to think about forgiveness and be like, “How do I know when I’ve forgiven someone? How do I really, you know, know what that looks like?” And the way that I’ve learned is if I think of someone and I feel like a ugh or I like say something negative about them, then I know there’s something that I need to forgive. Or of I think about a situation, and you can feel it in your heart, that bitterness or that unforgiveness, then, you know there’s something there. And you can also ask the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to lead us through this.

So here is something that is very important when you are holding onto unforgiveness and you haven’t chosen forgiveness. God gave me a picture of this one day, where I saw these doors and the closed doors represented unforgiveness. There were things that God had inside of me to do or things to see in my life, really good things, but they were held back because of the unforgiveness that I had chosen to hold onto. Forgiveness is an open door to breakthrough and all the things that God has for you.

I believe that forgiveness is, to me, the same as faithfulness in your life. You know, when God can trust you with a little, He can trust you with more and then you’re faithful with that, and He can trust you with more. I believe the same thing about forgiveness. When we harbor unforgiveness, we’re harboring bitterness, and we’re actually harboring evil in our heart. We’re harboring sin in our heart. So today, choose forgiveness. It might be 20 years since you’ve talked to your sister, or your daughter, or your mother-in-law, or your brother, or your grandpa, whoever it is, it’s time to choose forgiveness. It’s time.

Now I’ve even seen people, they maybe had leg pain, or they’ve had a sickness in their body and they couldn’t get healed. They would pray and ask the Lord and they wouldn’t see their healing. And it wasn’t until that they forgave their mom, their pop, their brother, their sister, their boss that did them wrong, their friend that did them wrong. Until they chose to forgive that person, they were stuck with that. It was holding them back from breakthrough and healing. And so guys, this is important and powerful. Okay. So we’re gonna choose this today. Alright. So I actually, and when it comes to forgiveness, you don’t have to go to that person and say, “I forgive you for 25 years wrongdoing.” You don’t have to. Maybe sometimes you might need to ask the Holy Spirit on that, because that’s a sensitive area, but you can in your own heart, choose forgiveness and then decide your boundaries in that relationship.

But if you want breakthrough in this today, I wanna walk you through this. Okay? I wanna activate you in forgiveness and maybe help you. So I want you to just ask, take a second, ask the Holy Spirit if there’s somebody you need to forgive and maybe write down these questions since we don’t really have time to really wait. But ask the Holy Spirit, “Lord, who have I not forgiven?” And it might be a long list, you know, and I want you to write it down and what happened. Okay? And then I want you to take it to the Holy Spirit, you and the Holy Spirit, and go through each person. You know, “Father, I forgive this person for this. I forgive this person for this.” And I want you to lay it at the feet of Jesus.

I’ve had to, when I was hurt by somebody, I had to literally, I’m a worship leader and there’s power in worship. And there’s this one song by Amanda Cook, I think it’s like a spontaneous moment. And she sings, “You turn the bitter into sweet.” And I would just sing that over and over and over my situation until my heart changed; until I believed good about that person. And another powerful thing is, you can ask the Lord to show you the way that He loves that person and to change your heart, to love that person the way that He does. And if you don’t feel it at first, keep praying it. You’re gonna see a change. So I wanna encourage you in that today. Choose forgiveness, stop walking in bitterness and unforgiveness.

And I just pray right now for breakthrough in that, in Jesus name, that as they forgive, they will see that breakthrough that they desire in the name of Jesus. Amen.

________

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October 8, 2022 0 comment

Articles Faith Family

Forgiving My Dad, The Imperfect Stranger

by Deborah Manchac August 8, 2022

written by Deborah Manchac

To live with a dream and a nightmare at the same time is the story of my relationship with my dad. Forgiving him is another story.

Forgiving My Dad

Explaining my life with my dad is like trying to tell you a story of two different humans that impacted my life. Growing up my dad literally was everything I wanted to be and more. He inspired me to be a better daughter, sister, friend and overall person. From passing down his love for music and writing to teaching me what I know about serving others with love and passion. Specifically when cooking, our family was very spoiled with really good food since he also was a chef. My dad did it all and strived to do it with excellence. He also had very strong morals and values and took his time to teach me how to make wise decisions in everyday life. He was a minister and an assistant pastor at one point, so almost daily he’d have a one on one with me about the meaning of life. It was normal for me to have a dad that was very intentional about all he did with his children everyday.

But like I said there is another side to this coin I cherished so much. The other part was tainted and even scary at times. It was the part that made forgiving difficult.

The Imperfect Stranger

As a child he was very hard on us. So his strengths of doing things with excellence overflowed onto us in not the best way. He didn’t accept anything less than perfect. So it came with a price when you didn’t live up to his expectations. You could be having the time of your life with your dad making pancakes and dancing in the kitchen one moment. The next day he may find out you messed up in school and he’d get very angry. It even got to the point of severely physically discipling us for the smallest things that he didn’t agree with. He would psychologically manipulate us to do or be what he wanted us to be.

So it was confusing to know when we were truly loved or just abused.

He was so involved mentally, emotionally and even spiritually in our life that he had us wrapped around his finger. But if he felt he didn’t for just a moment, you’d get treated like his worse enemy. Beaten, isolated, and psychologically abused. He’d take back everything he gave and won’t give it back until you showed you deserved it. So once things settled and you learned your lesson it was all back to “normal.”

Trying to write about forgiving my dad can be confusing with both pain and beauty… A Hero dad and a unrecognizable stranger.

Finally, the confusion kind of ceased when my high moral, creative, full of life dad chose a side of that coin I mentioned before. When he no longer could control or hide the imperfect side of him from others he turned to drugs. Ever since then he never was there for us as a present dad again.

He tried his hardest to hold on to us and be a good father but the pain that had him be hard on us at times was actually the hardest on him. Till this day, over 15 years later; he has not been able to come back home and make us laugh till our ribs ached. I’ve written so many stories and songs like he use to that I have not yet been able to share with the one that inspired it all. But I’m so grateful that God gave me the memories of his good efforts to stay with me.

There is no perfect father or human for that matter.

Even when he was out of our lives I can recall a time he came back when he was clean for little a while. My mom was not as affectionate as my dad so though he left us I was very happy to see him back. There was a night that I was suffering from very painful cramps I would always get as a teenager. He found me in a dark room crying and trying not to be a burden to anyone and waiting for it to pass. He asked me to come out and head to the bathroom; to my surprise my hero dad that I remember made a small come back when I saw he had already drew me a bath and made me something special to eat after. It definitely does not excuse the pain he caused to us but I’ve learned to forgive him and let go of the pain.

Now that I’m a mother, I see that it’s not that easy to be everything for our children especially when we are still broken ourselves. You only can give what you have.

Healed people heal other people. So hurt people only know to give hurt, intentional or not.

My father went as far as he could to love us till his hurt outweighed the love.

Forgiving and letting go

This story of forgiving is real and painful but I had to let go my past and pain to the one that can handle it. Since I have given it to God; I have been able to talk and share parts of the nightmares I’ve lived in my childhood that has haunted me through my adult life.

If this story resonates in any way with you. I pray for healing and full freedom in your precious life. We cannot change our past but it doesn’t have to follow and haunt us in our present and future lives.

With that said; I Thank you dad for giving the little bit of love you had in you to us when you could. I love and forgive you and learned from both the pain and beauty.

Deborah Liza

Forgiveness Brings Breakthrough In Your Life

by Kate Muguira May 2, 2022

written by Kate Muguira

Do you feel like you keep trying to see some things happen in your life but it’s like hitting a brick wall? Or maybe you’ve been waiting for healing and haven’t seen it happen yet? Choosing forgiveness in your life can bring breakthrough in these areas.

I have a very real question to ask you. Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive?

Unforgiveness Creates Blocks

The only person that unforgiveness truly harms is yourself. When you keep bitterness, hurt and pain trapped inside your heart, it can prevent you from moving forward in your life.

I have heard testimonies from people who were sick or their body was in pain, and no matter how much they prayed, they didn’t see their healing. It wasn’t until they forgave the person they needed to forgive that they saw the pain in their body leave.

I see a picture with closed doors when I think about unforgiveness. When forgive others like our friends, family, co-workers, we open the doors to our heart which brings breakthrough in our lives. When the doors to our heart are open, God can use us and mold us into who He’s called us to be.

How Often Should We Forgive?

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’ ” Matthew 18:21-22

Jesus tells us to forgive people over and over again.

Let me be clear. Jesus tells us to forgive others. That doesn’t mean we don’t operate in wisdom. You can forgive someone who hurt and have healthy boundaries about what parts of your life you share with them.

Forgiveness Brings Forgiveness

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14

We are not perfect and require a lot of forgiveness which our heavenly Father freely gives. His one ask is that you forgive others. Jesus modeled to us how to live of life free of offense and unforgiveness.

It is valid as a human to feel pain and hurt. It’s just not healthy to stay. My encouragement to you is let yourself process through your emotions and the pain and then choose forgiveness.

How Do I Forgive?

One of the biggest ways I’ve learned how to forgive someone who wronged me or hurt me is to ask the Lord to show me His heart for that person. I lay the unforgiveness in my heart at the cross and ask Jesus to help me love the person who hurt me.

Here’s a simple prayer you can pray:

Jesus, I forgive (insert name) for (insert offense). I lay down any pain or hurt at the foot of the cross. Would you show me how to love (insert name) how you love them. Thank you for healing my heart and showing me how to navigate forgiveness. Amen.

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May 2, 2022 0 comment

Articles Faith Lifestyle Word For The Day

Tear Down the Walls

by Aisosa Erhahon July 26, 2021

written by Aisosa Erhahon

Why are you building walls? Have you ever felt betrayed? Have you ever felt deceived? What was your reaction afterward? Many of us would start building walls to protect ourselves.

Luke 23:34 says, “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

Have you ever thought someone loved you but later, you realized that person was just there to use you for his or her own desires? How did it feel? The next thing we might start doing might be to build more walls.

Christ forgave us

I do not want to imagine how Jesus felt when He was not only denied by Peter but also betrayed by Judas Iscariot. In addition, He was falsely accused of a sin He never committed and was labeled a sinner. The one who knew no sin became sin all because of humanity.

Have you ever tried to do good, but your good was not appreciated? Have you wanted to help someone who did in return forsook you when you sought his or her help? Christ has been there and is still there today.

Interestingly, Christ’s reaction has always been different from how most of us would react today when we are disappointed in someone. Often, our reactions are to build walls. Christ, however, did not build walls. Christ tore down the walls with forgiveness out of love for humanity. He knew how human beings are and decided to react in a different way. He reacted with love.

Building Walls out of fear

Fear is one of the main reasons why we build walls. We are afraid of getting hurt again and again. Therefore, we build walls.

Walls are not built within a day. Walls are not built just with a block. But as we take blocks after blocks, we build a wall. It can be a block of regret, aggression, stress, pain, unforgiveness, anger and you may name them all. These blocks will one day become a wall.

While walls mean to defend us, they separate us from others as well. Building a wall seems to be the most appropriate solution when we get hurt but when we take a closer look at it, walls put us into new captivity. They isolate us. This may cause a serious burden manifesting in sickness. Many people today do not know the root of their sickness. Many have forgotten the block of regret or anger they had once built after they got hurt. Today, it has become a wall, which they are still trying to break.

Forgiveness instead of walls

Christ is saying, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”. What if we did the same? What if we said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing”? It is not always easy, but do we know how many times Christ has forgiven us? Do we know how many times He keeps speaking the same words He spoke on the cross?

Forgiveness is Christ’s language. It is only because Christ forgives us every single day that we are able to live the life of a new creature. Forgiveness helps us to see the good in others. On the other hand, walls limit our visions and the hope in seeing the good in other people.

Let us love and forgive. Let us see beyond the mistake of others. And let us tear down every wall we have built in the past years. For this life is too short to build walls.

July 26, 2021 0 comment

Faith

God Knew Better Than Joseph Did

by Corine Channell October 28, 2020

written by Corine Channell

Maybe that thing you thought was out to destroy you was actually the very thing that ended up saving you! This is where we will recall and rehearse and have an “AHA!” moment as we read the story of Joseph again. You have heard it before, but the core message of his life is SO powerful that it spills over into our present-day lives.

About Joseph

Joseph was a boy with many OLDER brothers. What a fearful script for sibling rivalry to be established and acted upon. Joseph was very sweet and naive and in his childlike innocence, he said things as he saw them. He proclaimed how he was his father’s favorite. This is NEVER a way to win friends or brothers. The truth is that he WAS Jacob’s favorite and that infamous coat of many colors that only Joseph was gifted by his adoring father, was the clincher. Yes, Joseph was the favorite. Rubbing it into his brothers whether maliciously or innocently, was not the best thought process Joseph had. It set up a very complicated storyline from start to finish.

Why did Joseph’s brothers really hate him so much? Just the favoritism factor? They didn’t get a coat? Did he get extra pie at dinner? That all added to it, and remember Joseph was the baby of the family at the time – born to Jacob in his old age and son of Rachel. I think they really began to loathe him when he started his bragging. Ouch. Never a good idea to toot your own horn.

It unfolded like this:

Genesis 37 tells of two dreams Joseph had, in which he shared his interpretation: he would someday rule over his big brothers. Uh oh – fail. Not something he should have bragged about, even if it was true. It was this bragging that initially started the downward spiral. “His brothers angrily said to him, ‘Are you indeed to reign over us?’” They hated him, even more, when he went on to dream number two and proclaimed excitedly that they would also BOW on the ground before him. This was not good.

The favoritism, the magnificent coat, and the youthful incessant bragging finally came to a head when Joseph was 17 years old. His brothers ran out of grace.

Here comes the story…

…of that THING set in place to destroy Joseph:

That fateful day, his brothers stripped him of his coat and considered killing him, but decided just to throw him in a pit. Maybe in their crazed minds, they just wanted him to stop talking! They agreed that he should be sold instead of killed (how big of them). Enter the hand of God into what was meant to destroy, thus began the foundation of a much larger story to be played out.

Joseph was drawn out of his pit and sold to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and taken to Egypt. From there we know the plot lines. From the pit to the prison, to the palace (that is the extremely short version). The pit was unjust, his brothers were bullies, his life was altered by a decision made by his brothers. The prison stopover was unjust as he was accused of something he did not do.

Where is the fairness in any of these things that happened to Joseph? He lost years of his life, never lived at home again with his family, forced to grow up too fast at age 17, forever carried the image of his brothers discarding him like trash, accused of a rape he did not do, and then to top it off – the people he was nice to in prison (he correctly interpreted their dreams) FORGOT him when they got out.

But God…

Betrayed, hated, rejected, accused, shamed, broken, and forgotten. Joseph. Those words defined his life UNTIL God turned something bad into something good. What the enemy meant to destroy him, God flipped it – turned it inside out, and upside down, and turned it around.

All of Joseph’s youthful bragging had to be knocked out of him. Sorry; it just did. Would he have been a good king (which was THE plan down the road) if he had had that same brag going on? “Hey – you are going to worship me, bow to me, I AM the King after all.” Truly, a King should be strong and confident but rooted in humility, knowing all human authority comes from God. Pride coupled with an air of arrogance is never a good fit. Thus, the pit taught him humility.

Joseph: The Solo Journey

Then there is the prison experience where he spent a lot of time in solitude – his OWN solitude; his own solo journey. Solo journeys born out of injustice and pain, and shame or failure become the pivotal places where it is just us and God. Whatever it is He wants to say to us, can be heard in these places. All distractions are removed. Pride is gone. Desperation has set in, and our ears are wide open to hear whatever it is that God wants to say.

I know. I have been there myself. It is dark and cold and lonely. You want to share your pain, but really – there is no one else with you on this solo journey. At this point, you can feel and BE alienated, forgotten, and overlooked. It feels like everyone gets to move on, but you are stuck. For Joseph, it was part two of what the enemy meant to destroy him.

Joseph: Finding Himself

I am thinking Joseph wasn’t always singing rejoicing tunes or dancing gigs around his dirt cell. And I am thinking he had messy, ugly cry fests, and may have banged his head on the bars. I bet he questioned God wondering how THIS could have happened to HIM; after all, he was JOSEPH, the favorite son of Jacob. AND he had never done anything wrong! Talk about injustice. BUT then I think that he would wear himself out crying and praying, and finally rest in heavenly Father’s arms and finally resign himself to the place he was in and the purpose of God that he could not see.

THIS is where his gift of interpreting dreams is brought back to life (See this right here! See this in your own life – whatever that could look like for you)! THIS would be the exact thing that would deliver him from prison and take him straight to the throne. It was something he already had inside of him; the WHO of who he was. It had been under construction. This is where he finally found himself.

Lifted Up

Joseph’s ascent to being the new Prime Minister of Egypt happened SO fast, that had he NOT already been prepared and ready to go, it would have been a disaster. Fast forward – as the Prime Minister he got to use his God dreams to offer a workable plan to survive and to ultimately save lives during a FAMINE. He got to save his own family (the bully brothers, the aged father who still loved him) and his heart was in a place to be able to offer forgiveness, to forget the past, and to do what he was called to do. THIS is God turning the enemy’s destructive plans to GOOD.

“As for you, you meant evil against me [speaking to his brothers], but GOD meant it for good in order to bring about THIS present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)

God uses the good, the bad (even the very bad), the ugly, the messes, the flaws, the failures, the people (yes, the people in our lives are there for a reason), the dreams, the mysteries, the unknown – on and on God uses it ALL to save us, our families, and mankind.

One more time: maybe that thing you thought was out to destroy you was actually the very thing that ended up saving you!

October 28, 2020 0 comment

Faith

The Forgiveness That Comes With Love

by Emily Wheelock March 28, 2020

written by Emily Wheelock

I have a habit of holding things against people even after I have forgiven them. Even though I don’t want to, I try not to be the “forgive but never forget” type of gal, I still manage to, though. Lucky for us, God forgives a hundred percent and on top of that, He forgets. He doesn’t hold it against you. He says okay and moves on. As for me and my not forgetting, some would say that it’s not very Christian and they’d be right. Don’t get me wrong. We are not bad Christians. You must understand that we are always a work in progress. The Holy Spirit that lives in us and is guiding us daily to find right from wrong. It is up to us to trust that little voice and our “gut feeling” when it comes to making our next move.

forgiveness

Since we are called to be like Jesus we should also start people out on a clean slate. You forgive others not to get right with God but simply because it’s the right thing to do. Remember our buds bitterness and anger? They are what holds you back from forgiveness. Period. We forgive because God forgives us. Jesus died for us. God forgave us. Why? Take a minute to think about that why. Give up?

Love.

Out of love God created the universe. He created the heavens and earth because of love. Out of love He gave life to everything and everyone we see. He created everything visible and invisible. That same love is why He sent His Son to died on the cross for the sins of the world. Because of love, Jesus willingly died on that cross. Out of love He rose again and lives today. And out of that very same love, He left us with the Holy Spirit to guide us through our daily lives so that we can live for Him.

Everything we do on a daily basis we do out of love. Love for our families or our friends. We also should forgive because it is something that brings glory to God. As Christians, that’s what our walk should be about. Share the gospel, love unconditionally and glorify God.

Working For Change

Change in forgiveness does not come on its own. It’s up to you to take that step in forgiving or even apologizing and further whatever relationships you are mending. With the right heart, you will know when to overlook an insult and turn away from the sin. A wise heart knows when its time to teach. When that timing is right, build each other up! That’s why being compassionate is important.

Forgiveness

Forgive because in bitterness and anger judgment lingers and it is not our place to judge. We are all a creation of God. Know the importance of choosing the correct words at the correct time. Proverbs 15:23 says that timely words are good words. It may not be welcome and maybe the person you are forgiving or apologizing to doesn’t want to hear it or you don’t want to hear it. It may be difficult but it is a good word. Remember that. Especially at the moment, evil words may taste sweet but the Bible says they go sour. No kidding, right?! In times such as these, step back and evaluate the situation, check your own heart because I’m sure you have more issues than Vogue. We all do. Speak grace and truth.

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March 28, 2020 0 comment

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