{"id":465,"date":"2021-12-09T18:53:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T18:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2022-12-13T22:51:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T22:51:27","slug":"the-art-of-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/?p=465","title":{"rendered":"Forgiveness: the ultimate bitter-sweet pill"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\r\n

23rd October 2021, ~21:30<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cForgiveness.\u201d \u201cForgive.\u201d These are words God hasn\u2019t been shy about tossing my way in this season. There are some pains that run so deep that when you think of forgiveness you don\u2019t even know HOW to forgive. How can God ask me to forgive?\u00a0 Where does one start from? Don\u2019t look at me like the black sheep of the Christian pack – I\u2019m only being dead honest. When someone hurts you so deeply how do you forgive them? You know what makes it sweeter? When they don\u2019t even have a clue that they\u2019ve hurt you that deeply. It\u2019s like adding atarodo (hot pepper) to an injury. Then my loving daddy (God) says \u201clet it go\u201d. Really dad?!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My pastor once said something profound \u201cThe thing about unforgiveness is that it doesn\u2019t travel alone. It is a store house that comes along with other negative emotions – bitterness, anxiety, anger, fear, which starts damaging you and interfering with who God is calling you to be .\u201d <\/em>\u00a0I love PB! She always delivers things ever so sweetly. I\u2019ll never forget what she said because I\u2019ve seen it hold true in various scenarios. But you see the irony is unforgiveness doesn\u2019t actually hold the person who has wronged you back. It holds YOU back i.e. the person who\u2019s chosen to hold on to the hurt. You know when you have a legitimate right to be angry, you have a right to be hurt and in fact look to show them pepper and then God is choosing this moment to play the forgiving saint card??? His timing always blows my mind. The time I need him to show them pepper he says \u201cstand down.\u201d How egg-citing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Anyway, have you ever read the story of the prodigal son? It\u2019s a well-known tale in the bible which gives an account of a son who took his share of the inheritance, squandered it, and then came back for forgiveness. I\u2019m going somewhere, hold on. I was sat at work and as per usual, binging my fave \u2013 Pastor Steven\u2019s podcast, and I ended up on a podcast which was given early last year. It\u2019s titled \u201cWhat God left Out: Flatbread faith<\/em>\u201d and what he focused on was very interesting. Whenever the story of the prodigal son is told, the focus is always on how the son\u2019s actions were less than satisfactory and of course, God\u2019s mercy and forgiveness. But you know what he said that blew my mind? When the son made the decision to come back to his father, the son was probably preparing a grand speech to tell his dad \u201cI know I\u2019m not worthy, I know I\u2019ve upset you\u00a0and I deserve everything you\u2019re going to do to me. I can work as a slave because I know I deserve it. Please just take me back under your wings. I\u2019m also sorry for the shame I brought on you\u2026\u201d I would imagine he had prepared a grand speech. You know what Pastor Steven pointed out?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As the son approached his father, the father literally sprinted towards him. He was so overjoyed he probably didn\u2019t even get to his grand speech. Imagine the shock. You thought you\u2019d be met with anger and violence yet you were met with love. His father could have pointed out all his flaws and in fact taunted him for all he did. Yet, he chose forgiveness. Not just forgiveness but he chose to leave some things out. Then God spoke to my spirit and said I need you to do that. \u201cLeave that out. Forgive, and leave out all the tiny details about the wrong they did.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

He said do you know when God is talking to us sometimes he leaves things out? We go to God after we have dragged him in the mud and not once does he point out what we did to him in the past. God then went further and told me to reflect on the relationship between Jesus and his disciples. He told me that Christ is in fact the ultimate teacher of forgiveness. The very people He trusted the most and shared intimacy with, the people who had free access to him, they fellowshipped with him, they had ACCESS \u2013 were not present when He needed them the most. By \u2018they\u2019 I\u2019m referring to the disciples.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They did all of that and when He reunited with them during the season of appearing before the descent of the Holy Spirit He never mentioned it once. WHATTTTTTT??? He smiled with them and hugged them!?!!! Peter probably had a speech ready for Jesus to tell him how he\u2019s sorry but I can imagine God\u2019s arms and smile confusing him and just going for a hug. Christ is forgiveness.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Think about it. He was tried, carried a cross and did the most difficult part of his life alone. There are just some moments where you feel like you need that one person to ride with you through your lows and guess what? They don\u2019t! Or you expect your family to do it and they don\u2019t! Or your sister club and guess what they don\u2019t! It may cause resentment and anger – I\u2019ve been there. Has that ever happened to you? It has happened to me lots of times.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So obviously when daddy started laying this out to me I knew where he was going. He had stated his case and damn it guys. I was cornered. I couldn\u2019t even come with my own points because I knew everything he said was facts (duh). He said Tumi, I want you to forgive. I want you to reply with love. I want you to reply with kindness. You may even be angry but show love. And if the anger you have is towards me I want to ask you something – do you trust me? Do you really trust me? It may seem like chaos now but do you trust me? Do you trust that I will not mismanage your life? Forgive and leave it all out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By the time he finished, I noticed tears were streaming down my face. I sighed, took a deep breath and said okay fine. You win. I choose love. I will forgive over and over and over. Why? Because I can\u2019t let my hurt hold me back from who God has called me to be. What I\u2019m carrying is far more important to protect!!!!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So I put this to you – will you forgive? Will you take a page from the story of the prodigal son and let the pain go? Will you choose love and forgiveness over bitterness? Will you choose to trust God despite it looking like it\u2019s getting worse? Will you forgive God even for missed expectations? Will you forgive even yourself?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

***<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To whoever who reads this, I want to pray for you. Before that though I want to reiterate that all your hurts and pains matter. I see you and more importantly God sees you. It all matters. But you know what\u2019s more important? Letting that weight go so it doesn\u2019t hinder you from becoming who you\u2019re meant to be.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dear Lord, today I want to commit whoever reads this into your hands. You taught me Father that Christ is the ultimate example of forgiveness. You told me how he forgave countless times and still showed up with a loving heart. You have shown me that you bless those who are consistently seeking to be more like you in all they do. Today, I pray that whoever reads this you will set them free. I pray that you will thaw their heart and breathe upon them. That you will soften their hearts and cause them to forgive those who wronged them. I pray Lord that in the case of relationships you will use whatever happened to result in deeper intimacy between both parties. In the case of hurts from colleagues or work, that you will teach them wisdom and give them a heart like Joseph who got hurt multiple times but ended up in a position of power. Turns out that the past pains equipped him into being the effective leader you needed him to be. I pray Lord that whatever resentment this person reading feels will be washed away and their heart will be filled with love. I pray Lord for you to reveal yourself to them that they may know you deeper and as an overflow of their love for you it will cause them to continuously forgive those closest to them more easily. I pray that they will see that they don\u2019t have to do it alone and it\u2019s okay if the hurt reappears again and again. I pray Lord that your Grace will pour upon them and with this they will forgive over and over choosing love every single time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, I could go on forever but I really hope that touched you. I\u2019ve been there. It\u2019s a painful place to be and to navigate. However as I\u2019m currently treading the path of letting go, I\u2019m feeling a lot lighter. I\u2019m also excited because I chose love. I chose Christ. I chose a harder path but a more fruitful one. I can\u2019t even begin to imagine what\u2019s in front of me. I\u2019ll end with this beautiful scripture:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Proverbs 4:18 NIV<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Amen! It will get better but first please forgive.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Love always,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

T<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23rd October 2021, ~21:30 \u201cForgiveness.\u201d \u201cForgive.\u201d These are words God hasn\u2019t been shy about tossing my way in this season. There are some pains that run so deep that when you think of forgiveness you don\u2019t even know HOW to forgive. How can God ask me to forgive?\u00a0 Where does one start from? Don\u2019t look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectsees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1576,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/1576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepowercloset.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}