A glorious fall it was.
But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. ~ Genesis 2:17
It was a long way down. There were hesitations at the start and also a lot of doubt to the wisdom of the decision. There was a lot of time to think about it too. But I landed on my knees at the foot of the cross praying that Jesus would take the hurt away and grant me strength to forgive and to guide me further along the path. The path to forgiveness and acceptance. Forgiveness for those who hurt me. Acceptance of my own to turn everything over to Jesus and to trust Him even more than myself.
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ~ Ephesians 4:18 +++
Every time I pray the Lord’s Prayer I am reminded of this forgiveness. God forgives us our sins when we repent. We are commanded to also forgive those who trespass against us. If you’ve never had an occasion to need to forgive another I guarantee you that it is one of the hardest tasks to complete. Virtually every time I hear the Lord’s Prayer I forgive the driver of the car that hit me and that almost took my life. It gives me a comfort that is very hard to explain when I silently ask God to forgive that driver.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. ~ Isaiah 55:6-7
But it took a lot of help for me to ever get to that point in my life. Even after the recovery started progressing a bit more I struggled to understand; to forgive; to cope. I prayed for answers, strength, and guidance. But there weren’t any of these things happening. It was only when I was on my knees at the foot of the cross with my Bible study group praying over me that the peace and understanding came over me. As I have studied this over the time since it happened I am left to wonder if my heart was really committed to forgiveness. I had to humble myself and admit that I was a failure at being in control of my emotions and abilities. I wanted to turn everything over to Jesus but it wasn’t happening without me expressing my shortcomings to my peers.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 +++
My life is so much more complete now. I have no worries to cloud my mind. When something concerning enters my world I pray about it. I know that Jesus has asked me to share that with Him and I am now more than willing to oblige Him.
Yes, it was a glorious fall. Let me help you with your own. +++
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:28-30 +++