Needing God..........

Today started out with an immediate emotional draw! Then most of my day was a tug of war..... me being angry and hurt... then asking God to forgive me for rehashing an issue that I gave to Him to deal with. Ever have those days when you are totally done with an issue going on in your life? You are emotionally exhausted from it being brought up over and over again? A misunderstanding has turned into a HUGE mess of accusations and assumptions? you find yourself playing scenarios over and over in your head about what you did to make it right.. and what you would do to try and make it right again? The ones that feel you have wronged them just wont forgive you. They seem to want to punish you as long as they can to make themselves feel better. Which then of course draws you back into the rehashing of the issue in your own mind ... now leading you to taking it back from God. And now you're the one not forgiving. I am so glad God is bigger than ALL of this!!!!
Of all of the virtues forgiveness must be one of the hardest to put into practice. Our hurts can run so deep and painful that somehow we need to justify them with both anger and hatred against those who caused them. But, you know, anger and hatred are the most destructive of emotions and actually lead to physical illness as well as a heart never at peace.
Forgiveness does not mean having to like the person who hurts us. It simply means we have to let it go, release the heavy burden of anger, leave the past behind and look to a bright new day.
"Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him" Luke 17:2-4. Take that scripture passage one step further and forgive whether the sinner repents or not. Forgiveness is a gift we give to ourselves, challenging us to believe that there is a better future and giving us the inner confidence to know that we will survive the pain and suffering. Healing of that pain comes faster when we can let it go and stop it from festering inside like a volcano ready to erupt.
God expects us to forgive others just as he has forgiven us. God, who is perfect, sacrificed his Son Jesus so that our sin penalty (death) would be paid. Because of our faith in Christ (and his sacrifice), God forgives us from our sin. If we then refuse to forgive another person for an offense, we are dishonoring the forgiveness that God gave us. God will hold us accountable for this as Jesus illustrated in the sobering parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35).
Another important aspect of unforgiveness is that it is a form of pride. When we’ve been wronged by someone, we have a natural desire to see justice done. When we withhold forgiveness, we're basically passing judgment on the person. God instructs us to trust in him for the execution of justice. The scripture says, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). As God's followers, we must submit our desire for justice to him and trust it in his hand.
This can be very hard to do, especially if someone has spitefully mistreated us or someone we love. Forgiving someone is not condoning what they have done, but rather, it is laying the case before God’s throne and asking him to deal with it according to his will. We have to remember that God saw the evil that was done. He knows how deeply we've been hurt. If we can come to the place where we’re willing to forgive the person through Christ’s love, we will be able to move forward and leave the burden of justice in his capable hands.
I hung on as tight as I could today to God. It was a rough day. Its really neat how God will use all sorts of things to get your attention. Again today.. it was a song. *Tunnel* by Third Day. This is the chorus. Yep.... I'm holding on. I have to!

There's a light at the end of this tunnel
There's a light at the end of this tunnel
For you, for you
There's a light at the end of this tunnel
Shinin' bright at the end of this tunnel
For you, for you
So keep holdin' on

Along with God Blessing me with a song today to help me stay focused on Him.... He also Blessed my mailbox with Charity!
Here are the 5 blankets I received in todays mail................. Arent they just beautiful! Oh.. so many kids are going to be so blessed. These were sent by some lovely ladies that are helping me reach my goal of 21 Prayer Blankets for Christmas to be delivered to the Hospital ... for children with Nephrotic Syndrome.
I dont even know where to begin with my 'Thank yous' This is all just so amazing! I cant wait to see the look on Micheal's Nurses face when I hand her 21 blankets to pass out. God is so Good!
I'm going to call it a night here. I need to spend some time with my yarn and hook so that I can focus on God and His wonderful blessings.

Good night all...........

sleep well............

Hugs... love and blessings,

.::Tam::.

**For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15**