H7 Story: Joy in Forgivness
Last weekend, I attended the Women's Retreat at Longview Ranch. While I had a wonderful time of relaxation, fellowship, and enjoying the activities, I quickly realized why God had led me to this retreat. Our guest speaker was Sherry Lainer, who talked about Joy in Forgiveness. In the first two sessions, Sherry explained the joy of understanding how much God has forgiven us. Throughout the weekend, Sherry reminded us that as followers of Jesus, we are the "community of the forgiven." After understanding how much we have been forgiven, we can find the same joy in extending forgiveness to others who have hurt or harmed us.
I remember sitting there thinking, how is it possible to accomplish both when, at first glance, they seem so contradicting to one another? Sherry shared a helpful technique with us to help us do so. As a practical tool, she told us to write down on a piece of paper all the people in our lives who have hurt us and how they hurt us. The next step was to write down either an H or an F next to each person's name. H is for hold, meaning you cannot forgive the person yet but are working on it, and F stands for forgiven. Try it, as it is pretty eye-opening. If you are like me, you will soon realize that you have many more H's on your paper than F's, but I know with God's help and remembering the forgiveness I have in Christ, He can help me learn to release those debts to Him.
Forgiveness is such a simple word, but it can be complex. I know the thought that crossed my mind was, how can I forgive this person for x,y,z when they do not deserve it? And that, my friends, those last few words were an excellent reminder. While it is true the people who hurt me and the people who hurt you do not deserve forgiveness, neither do we! However, we can rejoice in knowing that we are all forgiven through Christ's selfless love and sacrifice. Sherry said, "We must recognize that our past does not define us, but Christ defines us. Through this experience at Longview, I have learned that while we are often reminded of Christ's sacrifice and forgiveness, we must actively extend forgiveness to others, which can only be found and accomplished through Him.
I remember sitting there thinking, how is it possible to accomplish both when, at first glance, they seem so contradicting to one another? Sherry shared a helpful technique with us to help us do so. As a practical tool, she told us to write down on a piece of paper all the people in our lives who have hurt us and how they hurt us. The next step was to write down either an H or an F next to each person's name. H is for hold, meaning you cannot forgive the person yet but are working on it, and F stands for forgiven. Try it, as it is pretty eye-opening. If you are like me, you will soon realize that you have many more H's on your paper than F's, but I know with God's help and remembering the forgiveness I have in Christ, He can help me learn to release those debts to Him.
Forgiveness is such a simple word, but it can be complex. I know the thought that crossed my mind was, how can I forgive this person for x,y,z when they do not deserve it? And that, my friends, those last few words were an excellent reminder. While it is true the people who hurt me and the people who hurt you do not deserve forgiveness, neither do we! However, we can rejoice in knowing that we are all forgiven through Christ's selfless love and sacrifice. Sherry said, "We must recognize that our past does not define us, but Christ defines us. Through this experience at Longview, I have learned that while we are often reminded of Christ's sacrifice and forgiveness, we must actively extend forgiveness to others, which can only be found and accomplished through Him.
