Finding Forgiveness

Hi everyone!

Well I decided to tackle the topic of forgiveness today.  I have to say this is a tough one!!  It is a quite lengthy post, because it is such a tough topic.  Why am I looking at this so soon?  Well since the writers before me all talk about the topic and the need to reach this place before my life can truly move on, I felt the time was now.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not so naive as to think one blog post will solve this, but life is too short to be stuck in a valley and let the wrong doings of one keep me from moving forward.  So I first looked at what scripture had to say about the topic.  This led me to The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-15.

"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

I understand and I do want the Lord to forgive me when I sin, because we all sin, but I cannot help but struggle with what exactly is forgiveness.  Does this mean you just pat someone on the back like a buddy and send them on their way to wreak havoc in someone else’s life?  Given my love of research, I wanted to explore this further and thought I would start with the definition of forgiveness - “to stop feeling anger toward.”   Wait a minute, now I am getting somewhere.  Pastor Rick Warren then really helped me investigate this a little further. 

“There are a lot of bad things in life that are evil. Not everything that happens in this world is God’s will, but that’s why we need God in our lives. So forgiveness isn’t forgetting what happened, it’s about finding what good came out of it.”

“What good came out of it” – I am assuming the “it” in this case means the evil.  He goes on further to say that “Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves that allows us to get on with our lives instead of being trapped in the past by resentment.”  Wait, did he just say “gift”???  And isn’t my birthday in 2 days???  So this means that I could possibly give myself THE BEST gift(s) ever??!!!

So what are the gifts that I have received from this “life lesson”?

1) I have gotten to observe just how blessed I am with the incredible friends and family in my life.  These are the TRUE friends and family, not someone just pretending to be.

2) I have also seen once again that God protects His children.

3) God has also shown me that this was NOT about me.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, God can bring people in to our lives for good, but the other person has free will to choose what God has planned or to throw it away. 

4) Sometimes “the enemy” can use those closest to us to keep us from fulfilling all that God has planned for our lives.  But God will take care of this too.  Forgiving will allow me to go where God wants me to.

Joan Lunden once said that “Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth.  Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.”  WAIT A MINUTE – STOP THE BUS!!!  Forgiveness is a GIFT AND will make me look better too!!  Why yes, this is true because my laughter and smile has returned and there is a spring in my step!!  Happy Early Birthday to me yet again!!!

Maya Angelou wrote “You can’t forgive without loving.  And I don’t mean sentimentality.  I don’t mean mush.  I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive.  I’m finished with it.’”  The key phrase being “I’m finished with it” and what exactly is the “it”?  For me “it” means having the courage to stand up and say “I am finished with being taken advantage of and used,” not just for my sake but for my children as well.

Well Gerald Jampolsky says that “Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness.  Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions. “  So, the “it” were also my misperceptions and as Jane Austen so eloquently put it “Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope for a cure.”  No matter how hard we might try, we cannot help those with a selfish spirit – there is no cure, so me must forgive and move on.  Tyler Perry knows himself, “It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people.  But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you.”  

Courage, Freedom, Laughter, Peace, Power…just a few more gifts that forgiveness is giving me!!  The poet Clarissa Pinkole Estes wrote the following.

“How does one know she has forgiven?  You tend to feel sorrow over the circumstance instead of rage, you tend to feel sorry for the person rather than angry with him.  You tend to have nothing left to say about it at all.”

I think this is so vitally important and sums this up so perfectly!  I can forgive and yet feel sorrow.  God gave someone such an amazing gift - a home, a Godly wife, and unconditional love, but they chose not to accept or cherish that gift, for this I can feel sorry for him.  And while I approach midlife and find myself surrounded with the most amazing group of family and friends, and I know how truly blessed I am, he feels friendless.  That is incredibly sad, but something that happens when one has spent their life trampling on the hearts of those who have loved him.

Author Lewis B. Smedes said that “You will know the forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”   Because if he could not find love and home with me, as he approached the latter part of life then you can only hope that he finds it before his time here on this earth is done.  I wish him well on his journey and pray for all of those in his path.

Though the MOST precious gift that I will ever receive this year is the PEACE of knowing that I did all that God ever asked me to do as a wife and while that may not have been good enough, God has blessed me beyond measure with the people that I do have in my life.  I forgive because I am not going to waste the life that I have been blessed with on anger.  God taught me a long time ago that He will take care of those who hurt us and betray us, so I will let Him handle the rest.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet shed on the heel that has crushed it.” ~ Mark Twain

Talents for HIS Glory

Hi everyone!

It has been amazing how God has gently guided my writings over the past several weeks.  When He places something on my heart I take several days to put it all into words.  I think it is important to look for the sunshine in the rain.  Everyone in this life has to go through their share of storms at some time or another and I just think if I can help others to also find a message while they are dealing with a mess that I am putting my talents to the use God intended for them.

We all are given talents, but how we choose to use them is the key.  This can pertain to money or the actual “talents” that God has given each of us.  God explains this very clearly in Matthew 25: 14-30, The Parable of the Talents. 

¹⁴ “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants^[a] and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents,^[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.^[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Those who know me also know that I have always given God the credit for my talents and how He guides me to use them.  I think it is important to use our talents in such a way that we can teach others about God and thus glorify Him in our lives.  Because I have lived my life this way it never even occurred to me that someone could use their talents in a deceptive manner.  Like the man that wanted to talk about the one talent that was given to him, but chose to not do anything with it.  If anyone uses their talent(s) in a manner to deceive others instead of using them to glorify God then the Bible is very clear of the consequences.  We have reached a point in our society where people tend to try and explain away what the Bible tells us.  However, God gave us His Word for our good, to serve as our lighthouse, and if we do not follow His instruction then we will never find peace in this world.

To me it is incredibly sad when God gives us a gift – the gift of someone who does see your talents and has devoted their lives to try and help you reach your true potential, but the reality is that you never had any intention of doing anything with that talent.  This parable also reiterates the fact that the Lord helps those who help themselves.  I think it saddens Him to see His servants taken advantage of, but I also know that He can take any mess and turn it into a message.

So will this stop me from using my talents to glorify God – oh no!!  For in the midst of sadness it is listening to His gently whisper and guidance that are my comfort.  I have given my best and will continue to do so and that is all that He ever asks of any of us.  For me and my children, I cannot imagine any other way!!

Dreams REALLY Do Come True

Hi everyone!

Well I can finally say that my dream of having my own little shop has come true!!!  Thanks so THE most AMAZING friends, family & church family!

Curiosity Cottage officially has its own little place at the Washington Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall!! 

Michael & I will be adding new items EVERY weekend!!

And some of his AMAZING photography will also be added this Spring!!

In addition, I will be launching a website for the Washington Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall.

We also have a new site Louisiana Treasures, that will also debut in the next couple of weeks!!

This new site will feature businesses between Opelousas & Washington Louisiana.  

THE PERFECT "Day Trip" idea!!

So watch for GREAT deals and items to win, in the very near future!!

We're Never Too Old To Sit Back & Dream

Hi everyone,

As I have said in the posts recently, my plate to sooooo full these days.  It is funny how often when life throws us multiple curve balls all at once we tend to forget our dreams and aspirations.  I have come to the realization though, that it is during these stressful times that we do need to stop and take a time to reflect on our dreams.  They can serve as our rainbow through the oceans of tears we may be crying or the mountain of obstacles we must climb.

One of my goals for the fall, is to take my talents that I have blessed with and use them to bless others.  For most of my adult life the moments that given me the most joy, were those times when I did things for other peoples.  No, I am not trying to put something else on my "to-do" list, I am simply wanting to look beyond me and my circumstances and provide a bit of sunshine to someone who may not have seen it for a while or who may never have been surprised for no reason.

It is my firm belief that when we take out talents and look beyond ourselves, using these talents for the glory of God, then those dreams we have...well God will fulfill them in ways we would have never even imagined!!