There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced and he practiced, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved.
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him,
"Remember the duck?"
So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said," Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again,
"Remember the duck?"
So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's ...he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know.
You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing,
I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.
Hoping you would come tell me yourself, and because I love you, I forgive you."
Thought for the day and every day thereafter?
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done...
and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face
(lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ...
whatever it is....
You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.....
He has seen your whole life.
He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.
He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.
The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness,
He not only forgives you, but He forgets...
It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.
839 visits
forgiveness
At 61, I have had a chance to look back on my life a little these days. I am amazed at how different everything in life looks to me now, compared to how it looked at different times along the way. At 25, I couldn't believe how much things had changed in the last 5 years. At 35, I couldn't even remember how I saw life at 25. At 50, I thought I might be getting the final take on lifes issues only to have it edited on a daily basis until now, Age 61(next Weds). Of all I have learned and forgotten and learned again, this is the truest thing I can tell you. The absolute best way out of your problems is to help someone else. Whatever it is that you want, well, give it away. Learning to treat others as we would like to be treated and the power of forgiveness are the biggest lessons I have learned. Those beliefs will not change. More to come.....
Ehesians 4:32
"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you"
Most of the ground that Satan gains in the lives of Christians is due to unforgiveness. We are warned to forgive othrs so that Satan cannot take advantage of us (2 Corinthians 2:10, 11). God requires us to forgive others from our hearts or He will turn us over to the tormentors (Matthew 18:34,35). Why is forgiveness so critical to our freedom? Because of the cross. God didn't give us what we deserve; He gave us what we needed according to His mercy. We are to be merciful just as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). We are to forgive as we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:31, 32). Forgiveness is not forgetting. People who try to forget find that they cannot. God says He will "remember no more" our sins (Hebrews 10:17), but God, being omniscient, cannot forget. "Remember no more "means that God will never use the past against us (Psalm 103:12). Forgetting may be a result of foregiveness, but it is never the means of foregiveness. When we bring up the past and use it against others, we haven't forgiven them.
Forgiveness is a choice, a crisis of the will. We choose to face and acknowledge the hurt and the hate in order to forgive from the heart. Since God requires us to forgive, it is something we can do. (He would never require us to do something we cannot do). But forgiveness is difficult for us because it pulls against our concept of justice. We want revenge for offenses suffered. But we are told never to take our own revenge (Romans 12:19). "Why should I let them off the hook?" we protest. You let them off your hook, but they are never off God's hook. He will deal with them fairly -- something we cannot do. If you don't let offenders off your hook, you are hooked to them and the past, and that just means continued pain for you. Stop the pain; let it go. You don't forgive someone merely for their sake; you do it for your sake so you can be free. Your need to forgive isn't an issue between you and the offender; it's between you and God.
SUGGESTED PRAYER:
Lord I stand amazed at the example of your forgiveness. I desire to grow in my willingness to forgive those who have hurt me.
My personal comment: I have been hurt by so many people after i became ill, including family. I was shocked by their behavior and disappointed. But God knew before i did that i will be forgiving but not forgetful. I am the type of person that i will forgive you but once you break that trust with me i will not have anything else to do with you. In other words, If i see you, i will speak to you but i no longer will socialize with you. After reading this, i realized that is not the way God intended for me to do. I should not hold it against them what they have done in the past. This will just keep me in bondage with them and i definitely want to be free of what they have done to me and free from pain so i need to just let it go and keep it moving. I will just let God handle it. If i do, then i have really not forgiven. This is something i really need to work on for myself as being a christian.
Hello Friends & Chronically Ill & Terminally Ill Survivors:
May God bless you and keep you sane, prayerful and hopeful. Pray in the morning for yourself, your family and the world. It is a journey to live ill and be surrounded by family and friends you love but they do not understand the struggle of surviving ill. Every morning you awake in pain, misunderstood, waiting on someone to be considerate of all the agony overflowing from your suffering to death state of being. The government wants to pretend we do not exist. Programs for the ill and dying are being cut by old, white haired men and women who are comfortably living with public and private medical coverage, caregiver help by an immigrant, or low income worker as the go to work and write legislation denying us, the taxpaying Americans, or former taxpaying Americans who pay for their comfortable existence and the right to die with dignity. We all need the same environment to die in peace. A clean, dry, home, clean sheets on a bed, balanced meals, our medicine, someone to care for us when we are too ill to move even to reach for a glass of water, and a little respect given to our state of suffering. We are of value while dying, lying, and waiting for the last breath to be taken. It's like, senators, congressmen and legislators think they can write us out of being in our homes, throwing sick, elderly, mentally ill neighbors, community out into the street, disgracing someone whom has earned the right to be, by denying proper housing, and money for proper health care. Family members try to be understanding but miss the mark often by being irritated or resentful they have to do for you, just lying there sick. What they do not understand is their time is coming, and who will give them mercy and compassion? . Parents need to stop and teach children how to properly care for an ill friend or family member. Being kind is the first lesson, doing what you can, offer a ride somewhere, brush an ill person's hair who has been laying a week without so much as a hello how do you feel today by the family they live with. It takes a long time to die; TV shows have wrecked our sense of humanity and compassion. Getting a warm face cloth and wiping down an ill bedridden family member without being asked. Make yourself available to serve and do what you can. Stop and prepare lunch and sit and eat with an ill family member. Go get someone trapped in the house and take him or her for a ride and have a conversation with them about life. You too are going to be the ill person you are talking to one day. Able-bodied people! Wake up and dust off you humanity, prove we are an honor bound worthy group of human beings by actions of serving. I am dying from a rare liver disease, complicated by intractable pain, Peripheral Neuropathy, a painful nerve disease effecting my standing, walking, 24/7 excruciating pain, which I speak to no one about I just bear it. My feelings have been hurt by the lack of understanding, empathy from those who claim to love me. I need something from Walgreen's right now and there is not one person I can call to get it without a bunch of" Do you need it now? Then I'll do it, then oh I forgot for two days, then resentment and irritation when I remind them they forgot, including my vitally needed prescriptions. Every month it is a big deal. What day do you need to pick up your prescriptions? Every month it is the same day and they cannot remember. Last month, they just decided to say they were going to get it then come home and say oh I did not get your prescriptions is that okay? I said no! I have been out for two days! I'm sorry I did not know, that why you should have kept your word, and picked up all my medicine. The caregivers that work thinks their lives are more important than yours. The insult of being de valued by inaction, when you were well and ran and did whatever they needed now you need the favor of basic respect of keeping their word to an ill person just laying there seems overwhelming to them, because they are so busy. The whole world is busy, let's preserve our self-respect and be a proper caregiver for God' s sake. Be kinder, listen to the pain in the survivors voice and be grateful to God it is not you and do something to relieve just a little misery from an ill person's life. My brother does not have a heart or conscious and is pretending I do not exist so he will not have to offer any emotion, assistance, or kindness. He does not work, nor pay rent. But he is so busy being busy. Too busy to walk across the lawn and say hello how are you today? Or my favorite is he tells people I am faking dying, so do not come see me. He is malicious and ignorant. He agreed to bring me ice in a 100 degree day so no one else will bring it then don’t so I will suffer. I just pray for him because his time will come. I was a caregiver even after I was too ill to work. I did what I could for whomever I could until I became bed ridden. My telephone does not ring. I am surrounded by friends and family I broke my back for helping, going, doing, giving rides, cooking for, praying for who do not even call to say hello are you still suffering to death. I just pray for them to be educated in kindness and compassion before they die. Mercy is a rare quality and giving it to a dying suffering person is honorable. I learn how to let go with grace, every day, adapt to being trapped in the house and in bed with no one to have a conversation with, how to not burst out crying when I have to ask, and ask, and ask to get a ride to the drug store once a month. Forget having what I want from the grocery store, it does not happen, so I let the want go, so I am not hurt. Let your wants go and try to sustain your needs if you are the ill one. I forgive them for selfishness, ignorance, neglect, for isolating me, thinking less of me because I am dying because I know I am still beautiful, funny, talkative, bright, but I cannot get a ride to the park for fifteen minutes to get some air. Who are we really if we cannot say we care for those ill friends, family and community with the utmost sense of duty because we know our time will come and we hope someone will be standing over us doing what is necessary to make us comfortable, keep us clean, dry, with water to drink, food prepared when we are too ill to do it ourselves. Think carefully about how you are caring for those in your life who are ill, be present, take responsibility, do what is right and hug somebody tonight who needs it. We are our brother, sisters and children's keepers. In the end all we have is our honor and the pride from our service given to our fellow women, men in their time of need. God Bless you all and I hope my thoughts have given someone enlightenment or comfort.
hi i am a mother of three children and i want to cry. i work to pay the bill but i am falling more in debt. I know u here this a lot but what am i going to do if i get put out of my home. i can not get help from family i am all my my children have and it sad. If i do get put out my family my laugh instead of helping, why u ask well a mouth or two ago me and my mom got in a augment that has been going on for over twenty years. and for some reason my so call family think that i have money. So they think when I ask for help it not true, see I am a women that will find a why to survive and i do not cry wolf why because who would come to my recue who know one. so that what i am thinking at this very moment how am going to make my rent by the 3rd of Oct. Cry as I
I want to share a quick story about betrayal and forgiveness, just one that changed my ways of thinking forever.....Collossians 3:12-3:13 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering: bearing with one another, and forgiving one another: even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Now of course the whole chapter is great speaking on how we should live higher like that of the Lord and not live of this earth. Well the point being most of us do live of this earth he knew that and gave his life for our sins. But here is what I learned "from the mouths of babes". My daughter had been offended . Dealing with behaviours of this has not been easy at all. But when he was sentenced and I had said somthing negative about it all (this was about 8 years ago), my daughter, bless her soul, looked up at me that day standing on our front porch and spoke words of truth that rang right through to my heart!! ~~~~~ She said, "Mommy, I love him and forgive him. I dont have to like him or be near him or trust him, but God says we must love and forgive even our enemy." I was then speechless. Then enemy in my heart wanted to scream back how can you forgive this such and such....but I knew she was right, and I knew somehow that I must learn to forgive those that have hurt me and my loved ones. I slowly put it away and bit by bit over the next few years leaned to forgive and it was not easy, until a few years later 2003. I will never forget how strongly God gave me the answer to what forgiveness truly meant.~~~~~ I was working in a drug and alcohol rehab. And the clients before me that I worked with on a daily basis of this 30 day in house treatment program, were very angry at life and the things that had been dealt to them over the years. I had a woman speak out in a group meeting I was holding, she spoke about being angry and about sexual abuse. I was very familiar with her anger as both my daughter and I personally went through this each our own cases as young children. Right then in the midst of our group meeting I spoke out something that I know came from God. He used me right at that moment to give this woman a way to forgive and heal, and at the same time, tell me the true meaning of forgiveness so that I could finally start to heal as well.~~~~~ I spoke out in front of every client in that group, "I know in this clinical setting I can not really share in a group my beliefs in God, and you may not agree with what I am about to say and I will take no offense but I just have to say this". I paused and then out it came, "Forgiveness is not something you do to help the other person. Forgiveness simply means that you give your anger at this person or persons up to God. You see when you forgive someone you are not saying that what they did was right or that they are allowed to offend you again. What you are saying is that you are going to move on and you are going to let God take care of that person and not seek vengance with your anger. That only hurts you more. Just simply give it to God and start to heal."~~~~~The lesson that day spoke once again right to my heart. And all this time I had been learning to forgive and not yet truly understanding it or healing fully as I know God wanted me to. Sometimes when I get mad today it still may take me a day or a few minutes to forgive and move past the situation. But the fact is I cant seem to not forgive. It is truly a healing thing to forgive. I believe God knew this when he commanded us to forgive. And finally I grasped that forgiving had nothing to do with that person before me. Jesus already died for his or her sins just as he did my own. So forgiving simply was intended for us to release or emotions of the situation to God and trust that he would take care of it and that it was soley a tool in me giving my life up to God. Sorry if it seems abit of a long blog msg here but I was led to share it. So thank you anyone who takes the time in reading this and may God bless you.
I took out student loans student loans back in the early nineties. Through a series of unfortunate events, I found myself homeless and falling in and out of employment for over ten years; mostly due to my mental illness. I had tried several times to repay my student loans because of my aspirations to do greater things. Nevertheless, I don't have the ability to repay the loan and do not see it happening in the near future: this has been my situation for many years now.
Since I cannot get anymore loans, because of what I owe, I can't even go back to school to finish the education I began all those years ago and put so much into. Even when I try to get certain jobs and services, I get turned down because my loans reflect so heavily on my credit reports.
I would like to get out from under the loans so that I can have a chance to get my life back on track. Any information you can provide will be appreciated.
My husband and I were separated from 2004 to 2006 and brought our marriage back to God and were reconciled in July, 2006. In August, to make a good start and because methamphetamine dealers were taking over our neighborhood, we moved with our three children and dog to a smaller town. I had a place all set up to rent. As we were pulling the moving truck out of the driveway, the landlord called to say the new place...not so much. So we were essentially homeless but chose to proceed to the new town anyway.
We stayed on a family farmhouse for 3 months but that was not to be permanent as it had no furnace. In November, 2006 we found a great house to rent in the new town, my husband had been working construction and I had some money coming in from my writing.
He lost his job in December.
He found a better one in January.
I worked part time retail from January to May but at that point summer came and what I would make would all be going to daycare for our four year old and we did not qualify for day care assistance because I was not working 28 hours a week.
Over the summer I was promised $10,000 from a single writing contract (signed and notartized) and another $2-5,000 from various writing activities, some of which were potential clients who, for whatever reason never signed their contracts.
I received none of this money. The $10k was promised in May and I still don't have it. The rest, well, I guess it is their perogative if they sign up or not but they said they were going to in July and August. This money was going to go to the landlady to buy the house on contract. Now her own child has moved back to town and being on a month to month lease she can oust us to get her own child in the house.
We did make the mistake of paying groceries and lights and school expenses before rent.
That will NEVER happen again. We will pay for the roof over our heads first because we have more options for procuring food, etc. I take ownership for the mistake and it will not repeat.
I am now working a call center job with part time evening hours and will get my first paycheck on October 3. I also have an interview for a part time admin assistant job and I have the exact experience of this job -- admin for a national nonprofit -- I worked as a temp for the exact same nonprofit at a different location doing the exact same thing and now I know a lot more about nonprofit management so I would be great at this job. Unfortunately we have to be out by the 28th. Yeah 4 days from now. And we don't have a place yet. "It's rented." "It's been rented." "No pets." "No children." "It's been rented." "Do you have good credit?"
Husband has been working steady all year at the same job never missed a day and has had two raises. However it only brought him up to $9.75 an hour which is not enough for five people to live on.
Our mistake in paying other expenses and bills before rent did catch up to us but we will never do it again.
We need $1500 for moving expenses but will take whatever we can get to not leave the landlady who has been generally good to us up til now in the lurch. I tried to have a yard sale but as it was a cool windy day it only made $50.
We have strong faith that God will find us the perfect house (this one turned out not to be ideal as the ceiling fell in on my daughter's head one day as she was sitting on the computer minding her own business.
I have bipolar disorder and my teen son has autism and my husband has Marfan's so we have our struggles and medical bills too but right now we just need a new place to live immediately.
I also have faith that one day my $10k will come in. After all they signed a legal contract so they can't just say, "not so much" at this point. I could go after them if they continue to delay or make excuses but for now I want to work with them. Should that ship come in, I vow to help the next person or more than one person or family with at least as much $$$$ as I receive on here.
I think that is what will make this community thrive.
Thank you so much for your consideration and God bless you and your loved ones.
A (wife) B (4 year old son) C (11 year old daughter) D (teen son) E (dad) F(cat - may she rest in peace) G (black Labrador dog).
