when we went to dallas about three weeks ago, i bought a book for the ride home. it was just a fiction book, something light and funny to pass the time. but it had something in there that has stuck with me since then.
as one character in the book was giving advice, she told someone that "choosing not to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
um...wow. i know we're supposed to forgive. i know that there are spiritual, phsyical, and emotional consquences for choosing not to forgive. i've been there, done that. who hasn't? but what i didn't expect was the barrage of emotions that hit me when i read that. i thought, "Lord, i'm not mad at anybody. nobody has hurt me. i'm okay." but that was a lie. i had convinced myself that whatever had hurt me was just a minor thing and that i didn't need to get all bent out of shape about it. while that may be true, i didn't take time to acknowledge that i was hurt and that i needed to deal with it. i just shoved it down and hoped the feeling would go away.
you'd think that at 24 i would know better.
so there it was, in all its ugliness. but isn't it great how God can make something beautiful out of something so ugly? okay, so i don't really know what that beautiful something is, but i'm trusting that God will reveal it in His own time.
ah, the joys of being challenged by God.
1 comment:
wow...awesome post. I love the "poison" line....so true!!
Post a Comment