Forgiving

I made a blog a lil while ago about Forgiveness and whether we honestly forgive of which I came to the conclusion of yes and no.  This blog isn't going to contradict that one nor event talk about similar situations.  The reason this is being written is because there is a couple situations in my life where either me or someone close to me and yearning to forgive someone for a wrong they did to them.  Da' T.R.U.T.H. made a song called Forgiveness and I'm going to use specific parts of his song to shape my thoughts.

 (Chorus):

They say forgiveness is a choice

Disappointment and anger gives bitterness a voice

But I gotta swallow my pride and follow my God

Til I’m finished this course

The chorus to this song brings up the old wise tale that forgiving someone is totally up to the person that's wronged.  Well, I'm here as well as the Bible is here to tell you that that is a common fallacy.  We do not have a choice to forgive, rather it is something that is required of us.  To be able to legit forgive someone is admitting that you are no better than they and even more important, you are not greater than God.  Why do I say that?  Yes, you've been wronged, and hopefully the person acknowledges that, but even if they don't, holding on to the grudge is saying that all the wrongs youve done to other people phathom in comparison to what that person did.  And maybe in reality it does, but we are all humans and you NEVER know how much of your actions hurt others.  Furthermore, God forgives us for stuff we do ALL the time.  Jesus forgave those (aka us) that crucified him.  Our job as a Christian is to follow Jesus, right?  Then we have to forgive or else we aren't doing our jobs.

The 2nd Verse says (in part):

God knows what you’ve been through; He’s intune

But forgiveness is the healing for them wounds

So you gotta let it go, let it go

it’ll kill you if you let it grow

unforgiveness is a poison

I love the line, "unforgiveness is a poison" because it really is.  Once again I will reiterate, yes you've been wronged, but until you are able to forgive that "wrong" you faced will continue to haunt you.  You will never be able to get over what he/she did to you and most likely you will reflect that anger/hate on someone else and in the end, hurt future relationships.  How do I know?  Just ask me at a later time. As the T.R.U.T.H. said, "forgiveness is the healing for them wounds."

The third verse says (in part)

Love your enemies is part of growing up

Wanna hold a grudge, I know its tough 

But if Joseph the dreamer forgave his older bruh

And Christ forgives for all our sins

And likes to give life tho we aint go no right to live

My FAVORITE line in here is "love your enemies is part of growing up."  Not everyone is going to like to hear this (including myself), but holding grudges is a childish act.  Growing up and maturing is a process that in part opens your eyes to realize that we are all the same; we are all humans and we are all sinners.  And just by that categorization, we are ALL going to mess up.  The quicker you realize that, the quicker you need to forgive.  Besides, if it wasn't for Christ forgiveness, we all be dead right now.

Epiphany

I just had an epiphany.  I've been writing about the whole "woe is me" narrative to the point that I'm tired of it.  I haven't really been relaying it to people cuz I'm tired of it.  Why do we, as Christians, constantly try to keep everything in control?  Because it feels safe.  The problem is that this "safe" feeling is only temporary because every good thing comes to an end.  And when it comes to an end we all try to do 2 things: Run to God and/or Run to our friends/Family (humans).  Do we typically remember to praise God during the happy times?  Do we typically remember to thank Him for all he is doing during those happy times?  Maybe if we did, when the storms come and go (best believe they will go!) we wouldn't be so shaken.  Maybe its just me but being sad and down is time consuming and exhausting!  Not only are you exhausting yourself but also the people you go to.  So I'm determined.  Determined to not let the little things bother me.  I will not only Praise You in the Storm, but I will praise You in the good times.  I need to trust that You have my best interests and that You know more than I.  It's a hard thing to do...ya know...to let go and let God.  But it has to be done. 

Ahhh I love these moments.  Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me.  I'll never understand why you did it but I am thankful that you did.

That's all for now.

-MJA

It's A God Thing

I know that its been a while since I've posted, but a lot of things have been going on with the end of J-Term and the beginning of the Spring Semester that I've been slightly overwhelmed, but I'm back!

I head a sermon on January 30, 2011 at Enon Taberbernacle that really made me think.  It was titled, "It's a God Thing" and the primary basis of it was that God has his hands in everything that we do.  

Have you ever had one of those instances that something amazing or spectacular happened that you know that there is no way you could've done it?  No matter how big or how small this accomplishment was, God had His hands in it.  Sometimes I just have to give him PRIASE!

*I, I gotta praise...I gotta praise and I gotta let it out...I got a praise*

I don't know what you, as the reader is going through or what miracles He has pulled you through but what I DO know is that everyday he does something amazing in my life which is waking me up in the morning.  Yes, sometimes I don't feel like gut I am getting out of bed because I'm a lazy, grumpy, human being, but, I am blessed that he woke me up.

For some people waking up is not a miracle, some people may need more evidence, and what I have to say about that is that God works on HIS time, not our time.  He doesn't have to prove Himself to us, and we should NOT expect things just because we ask for it.  He knows our life and our needs better than we THINK we know it.  He is OMNIPOTENT, ALL-KNOWING, and ALL POWERFUL.

There has been a miracle in my life that happened on monday during the United Voices of Praise practice.  Today was the first day for auditions and I honestly didn't know what to expect.  Fall Semester's turnout was really good, I would estimate about 75 people were there.  This rehersal had an astounding 88 people in it.  I told the choir that I never thought I would see a number bigger than the Fall Semester but praise the LORD I did.  And it wasnt from anything that I did.  I would love to boost my ego claiming that it was my doing or even the choir's doing in persuading people to join with their performance but in reality....IT'S A GOD THING.

There have been performances that I've been nervous because not enough people showed up in my opinion, but guess what? We still rocked it.  Why?  It's a God Thing.  So, anything concerning UVP, I am no longer worried about because I know that He has his hands on this choir.  Originally, I was quite nervous about the studio session that we will have ina week but I'm not now and you already know why......BUT if you don't know I'm gonna let you know....

IT'S A GOD THANG!!