Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: AMAZING (04/19/18)
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TITLE: Revelation of Love | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sarah L. Willow
04/21/18 -
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She pulled the clutch gear as her car lurched forward. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief and release.
She hadn’t taken off from work in over a year for vacation, but the pile up of work at the office was incentive enough for her to give a notice, pack her bags, and head to Michigan for the church retreat. She was very uncomfortable with meeting new people, so she said a silent prayer that God would help her to be loving.
Sigh.
She could finally breathe.
***
As soon as she stepped through the corridor of the Marriott Hotel, she saw Annabelle. Her mouth almost dropped open. She wanted to run back out through the double doors, but she braced herself as she calmly approached the front desk.
She knew that she shouldn’t be avoiding Annabelle, but old feelings of hurt were rising like a large boulder that lie buried in the depths of her heart. She forced herself to turn around and say hello, but Annabelle was no longer in sight.
The first night of the retreat, her friends decided to dine out at a new organic restaurant downtown. As they walked in, the jazz music swirled in the atmosphere and she noticed the white lights that stringed the wooden ceiling in almost a crisscross manner.
Monica rubbed her back. “Kelsey, penny for your thoughts,” she said softly, a twinkle in her eyes.
“Oh, I am sorry. I’m not really here right now. I should be enjoying myself.”
“You should,” Karlene said, giving her a curious stare.
“What gives?” Michelle asked.
“Well, I saw someone who offended me in the past. The thing is, I thought that I had forgiven her, but when I saw her, I was disgusted.”
“Well, you know your feelings will not always line up with the truth. Yes, you may have forgiven her, but have you let it go. Have you asked God to place a love in your heart for her?
“Well I haven’t?” Kelsey said. “I didn’t know I should.”
“As the old adage says, “Forgive and forget,” Karlene said.
“Do you really think it’s possible to forget?”
“Yes, when people say I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget you what you did, they’re basically saying I will forgive you with part of my heart, but I’m going to hold onto the hurt you did so that I can protect myself from ever being hurt again. But we can’t forgive halfheartedly. It’s a selfish forgiveness that allows you to look out for yourself, but God said that he forgets our sins and casts them behind his back. 1 Peter 1:16 says, “Be ye Holy, for I am Holy. If God casts it behind his back and doesn’t look back at our sin, what gives us the right to keep looking back at what someone has done to us. You will never look at them as God’s creation who is just as deserving of forgiveness as you are. What if you offended someone and every time they looked at you, you could see them assessing you through the eyes of past offenses?”
“Well I would feel like I could never measure up again and that we could never reconcile.”
“That’s right and that is not the right way to treat someone, and we can never measure up because Christ’s blood is what cleanses us. And since He makes us righteous and pure in the eyes of God, how dare we look at someone as impure because of a past offense.”
Kelsey felt pricked in her heart at Karlene’s words.
Later that evening, Kelsey went to the bathroom.
Lord, I am sorry for holding a grudge against Annabelle. I am going to be completely honest and say that she hurt my feelings when she betrayed my confidence as a trusted friend. It really hurts, considering that she is a Christian, and she never apologized to me, but I choose to forgive her. I forgive her for offending me and forgive me for getting offended. Forgive and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And give me a love in my heart towards her.”
“In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.”
When she walked back out towards her friends, she felt amazing.
Little did she know that through this trip, God had taught her an important lesson on love.
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32
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