Happy Sunday Morning Ya’ll! It’s Stephanie playing Melissa, LOL! This week Melissa is on vacay at the beach, and yes, I am jealous, LOL! But seriously, we will all miss her bunches I know! However, I am so excited to tackle the topic of Chapter 6 with you, which is FORGIVENESS!!!!

Our words of the week are

Surrender

Validated

Surrender is a vulnerable place to be…to relinquish possession or control of something.

I want to challenge you with a question. How tight are you holding onto that root of bitterness and anger?

Fear tells us that releasing our grip would leave the pain invalidated. Lies fill our heads that if we forgive, it would mean everything was okay. These lies hold us captive, multiple strings connecting our pain to our circumstances. Unless we cut them loose, we will continue to drag them behind us like a sad wobbly cart.

Forgiveness involves surrender, yes it does. But, we must be cognizant of the one in which we surrender to. Instead of continuing to bow down to the bondage of un-forgiveness, we must choose to surrender, to give our anger over to the one who loves us, Jesus.

I don’t know your story, but I know that He never abandons, leaves, or forsakes His children. I know that with Him, in Him, through Him, your pain is validated. He has collected each and every tear in a jar, and has felt the FULL weight of your pain.

Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

What will God do with the one who hurt you? I don’t know, but I do know that we can fully trust it to Him in sweet surrender, believing that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords sees what we don’t see, hears what we don’t hear, knows what we don’t know. He is sovereign. Let Him handle what is His to handle, and cut the strings girl. There is no longer any need to drag around that cart behind you, the one that ties you to angry bitterness, that seethes into the everydayness of love and robs you of your joy.

Not any more it doesn’t! We are going to forgive sisters, not because it necessarily “feels” good, but because un-forgiveness could be exactly what is keeping us from “feeling” good! So here we go sisters, let’s dive in headfirst into the water of forgiveness!

Monday – Read Chapter 6, Learning Forgiveness, and Have a Happy Wonderful 4th of July! Thank you to all the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom! Enjoy some fireworks, and I can promise you I will be indulging in some watermelon – MY FAVORITE!

Tuesday – Answer Questions One and Two, and pop on over to my blog for a special post about what God has spoken to my heart concerning my own battles with forgiveness at www.myloveletter2god.blogspot.com

Wednesday – Question 3 is a two part doozy, but oh so good – check here today for a vlog…I will go ahead and give you a word of caution now in case you work ahead…there will be situations in which you will not want and/or need to contact the person you need to forgive – forgiving is not an option – but how and if we go about this specific step is an option…long story short – in some cases it would not be safe or in your best interest to approach this person

Thursday – Answer questions four and five, and pop back over here for a super big super treat!!!! Samantha Reed will be guest posting! I cannot even describe how much I love this girl. I always go to her blog which is www.fieldsgold.blogspot.comwhen I need some peace and soaking in God’s presence. Sam, girly, you possess the gift of making others feel welcomed and loved with your endearing words. Love you sister!

Friday – Stop by and leave a comment about which thought/attitude you have chosen to clothe yourself with and work on from Question 5, I can’t wait to see which ones you choose!

What would happen if you got up tomorrow, and promised yourself NO MATTER WHAT, you would refuse to harbor bitterness and/or anger towards ANYONE? I wonder how things would change? Try it? What have you got to lose?

Love and Blessings!!!!

Stephanie Clayton

www.myloveletter2god.blogspot.com