ARE WE FORGIVEN? (Post 107)
TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2018
Post 107
ARE WE FORGIVEN?
Doing a bit of de-cluttering this summer, I ran across a one-week devotional that I had written for a Vacation Bible School event many years ago. Topics explored covered Trust, Giving, Serving, Hope, and Forgiving. One continued to keep my attention for a number of days: forgiveness. It’s a common element within the entire recovery process. Within the 12 Steps program, forgiving speaks loud and clear during Step 5: making amends. Perhaps, certain others may never forgive us … but we can explore, find, and experience the relief that comes when we make room in our minds and emotions to process hurts and harms in order to attain more peace within. The following is this devotional … it’s as fresh to me today as it was decades ago!
“I’m mad! I’m mad too! My mommy’s going to beat up your mommy! No, she isn’t, ‘cause my mommy’s going to beat up your mommy first! The two four-year old girls took one more angry look at one another and then each ran home crying.
Do these words sound comical to us? Well, how about the following statements? I’ll never forget what (s)he did. (S)he hurt me too much. I’ll never forgive him (her). Sound familiar? These are words often used by adults. Sometimes, I’ll hear snatches of similar conversations in restaurants, meetings, or doctors’ offices. Always there’s a firmness in the voice – an air of finality: that’s it; subject is over!
The act of forgiving is good for us – Jesus had clear advice about it. Forgiveness ends grudges [at least, from one person’s perspective]. It gives us another chance to add happier [and healthier] thoughts to our minds. It helps reduce the negative feelings we may have lived with continuously.
Sometimes, forgiveness takes awhile to achieve – possibly many years. When we remember that God forgives us, then it can be easier for us to forgive others. If we continue to work on this, we will find that – over time – blessings will come with forgiving.”
Reflecting on what I wrote years ago, I ponder the original title. Are we forgiven? At times, there seems to be a block in the way, even to approach the idea of forgiving someone in our lives. Possibly, we have, knowingly or unknowingly, placed ourselves in the permanent seat of blame within a certain situation. Yes, perhaps, we truly are/were at fault. Then too, we might never have been to blame; but our being victimized has played tricks on the memories - and we point the shame finger at ourselves. This is where Step 2 can enter: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living. (Gamblers Anonymous) This struggle to forgive, sometimes blanketed by shame and blame, somehow gets relegated only to us. Instead, these are the circumstances to call upon the greater Power to grant us insight and wisdom - and patience with ourselves to grow and learn from the negative experiences. It is essential that we realize – and accept – that we do not have to rely solely on our own power to enter into the process of forgiveness.
As we turn our will and our lives over to the care of his Power greater than ourselves (Step 3: Gamblers Anonymous), we become prepared to face our individual selves and make a moral and financial inventory (Step 4: Gamblers Anonymous) Whether the offense(s) was/were truly ours OR brought upon us, the task of forgiveness invites and challenges us to see beyond the present.
Are we forgiven?
How is the Power greater than ourselves leading you in this process?
For what help have you asked this Power?
Blessings,
Rev. Janet Jacobs, CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries
www.grmumc.org
For more information on problem gambling and recovery issues, visit:
www.indianaproblemgambling.org
www.ipgap.indiana.edu
www.mdproblemgambling.com
www.gamblersanonymous.org
www.gam-anon.org
www.kycpg.org
www.pgnohio.org
www.calproblemgambling.org
www.christsd.com
www.masscompulsivegambling.org
Posted by Gambling Recovery Ministries at 7:52 PM