Re-post from "Your Life is All About Love" by Holley Gerth

This world tells us the path to success is lined with signs like…

Be bigger. Try harder. Do more.

But that path is nothing more than a treadmill that will wear out our hearts and lead us nowhere. Trust me, I’ve tried it.

So what path are we called to instead?

Walk in the way of love. Eph. 5:2

Love is the biggest dream, the grandest goal, the most glorious way to spend your one precious existence.

So what does that mean today?

Simply get up and say, “God, today I want to love you, other and myself. Please show me how.”

Then take a small step, and another and another.

That’s all.

Love is enough for this one day.

And it’s enough for your one life.

Walk on, friend.
http://holleygerth.com/your-life-is-all-about-love/

Forgiveness

Forgiveness.  

What a powerful word.  

Only eleven letters, yet I find it is one of the hardest things for me to do.  When people wrong me, I want to do something to them so that they will know what it feels like.  Maybe I do this in hopes that it will heal the wound that they made.  However, we all know that it does quite the opposite.

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalms 103:7-18 tells me something different.  It tells me of God's love and abounding grace.  How He doesn't hold any grudges, how He has compassion, and how His everlasting love stretches millions of miles in all directions and still never ends.  We were made to be like God, therefore, we should try to forgive.  As hard as it sounds, it truly is the right thing to do, and is what God would want us to do too.  

Whatever the situation is, FORGIVENESS is the key.  

There's that other word, made of seven letters - REVENGE.  I'll admit, I'm always tempted to go with that second one.  Take matters into my own hands.  Give the other person "justice".  But it's the wrong thing to do.  Really, it is, because at the end of the day, vengeance belongs to God.  And only Him.  Absolutely, positively, no one else.  

At the end of time, God will be the one and only JUDGE.  He will DELIVER the punishment.  We will all be judged.  So just leave it up to Him.  He always knows what he's doing, and always will.  All we have to do is TRUST and OBEY.

Because God forgives us, I too, will try to forgive.  It sets me free.  He sets us free to forgive and love others.  He intentionally forgives us and starts us anew.  

All it takes is a prayer.

Here's a video about an incredible story of forgiveness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz3tkHv5sbg

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm103:8-18&version=NIV