..Christ wins another part of your heart....

When you choose to forgive, 

the person that wounded you does not win. 

Christ wins. 

He wins another piece of your heart.

 ~ Justin Davis ‪#‎BeyondOrdinary‬

as a biblical counsellor myself, the concept of forgiveness is very familiar to me.. I understand the principles behind it ..

• God commands it --> obviously we need to be obedient. Jesus Himself even told us if we didn't we wouldn't be forgiven either.. ( that scares the beejeebees out of me, you? )
• we choose to... the feelings will follow, God will heal the wounds inflicted by the one sinning against us
• we are not saying that what was done was ok, we are only accepting that God is the only one that can be holy and just enough to judge... the perpetrator will be held accountable
• we cut the chains that through sin committed against us have bound us to the person that we forgive, we finally can be free
• if we are holding on to hurt, it will not only hurt us, but this root of bitterness will poison many around us as well

forgiving is not easy... and I for one think that only when we are aware of our own sinfulness and the need for forgiveness are we capable to be obedient and forgive.

September 14 is when it will have been 4 years that I finally found the proof that my husband indeed was having an affair with my cousin / best friend.....

without going into any detail, let me tell you it was hard to forgive..... but it was the right thing to do and God came through for me.. again and again.. He has brought about healing, no root of bitterness could spring up... my daughters have seen me hurt and still try to live obediently.. by God's grace and His strength alone was I able to be a good example to them.... my prayer is that they too will choose to obey God rather than act out of their hurt feelings and walk down a road of destruction...

so this morning's quote rang true to me, deep in my heart it resonated with what I know to be true..

I do love the way this man of God put it.... Jesus wins another part of our hearts each time we forgive... never thought of it that way before... makes me happy inside... and it makes so much sense... surrendering the right to get even or at least to be angry and to hold on to the hurt allows Jesus to control more of our heart and soul.... living the way He wants us to always will mean blessing..

trusting Him with the healing of the hurt and with our future rather than holding on to the lie that we have some kind of control in the matter... such freedom ... 

something to ponder : as Christians do we even have the right whatsoever to withhold forgiveness... isn't forgiveness what Christianity is all about? the relationship we have with our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is based on the forgiveness that is extended to us the moment we are saved? 

another post tonite on Facebook that sums it all up I think: "Don't be a part-time Christian who demands a full-time God" 

He deserves our best... He deserves our trust and our obedience... so let not the sun go down on any offence done to you today...