Our Lord desires that we become the women He meant for us to be. He wants to set us free from resentment, bad relationships, and the past. So often, we are struggling with all that is going on inside and we do not like ourselves. If we have had a bad experience then we will ask the question, "Why did God create me? " Many times we end up blaming God for our pain.
Is there something in your past that to this day causes you much pain? How do you deal with it? Or do you deal with it? Do you keep going over the same thing again and again, like an old record?
Is there someone in your life who you resent? Has this resentment turned into hate? You see, it can easily turn into hate if you do not take care of it.
When people hurt us and we bottle up our feelings, they will eat us alive. This can cause a variety of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual problems. Psalms 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
No one wants to have a bad relationship, but are you really willing to correct the problem? Is it easy for you to forgive someone who has hurt you? Is it easy for you to say you're sorry? Just maybe if you took the first step, then the other person would take the next. "Who me?" I'm not the one who caused all this trouble; it's their fault.
I think back to a time that God showed me to apologize for something that had happened between my youngest daughter and me. One morning before she went to school, we had quite an argument. As she left, I felt such hurt because words had been spoken that could not be taken back.
As the day went on, I kept thinking about what had taken place and wondering what I could do to help the situation. I loved my daughter and I wanted to know if I had caused the problem. If I had, I was willing to take the blame in all of this terrible mess.
It is amazing what happens when you ask God for help. What He showed me was something that I would have never thought of, because we always want to put the blame on someone else. Right! This is what God showed me to do: When your daughter comes home tell her you're sorry. "Me? What about her?" Then I realized that God was trying to show me something that would help me for a very long time, if I would let Him!
When she came home, the look on her face was a look of, "Mom has had all day to think about this morning and now I'm going to get it." But God and I let her know by the look on my face that it was alright. I was not going to put all the blame on her, because part of the fault was mine as well.
The first thing I said to her was, "Leah, I am sorry." I knew that this made her feel better. Her reply to me was, "But Mom, you did nothing wrong."
I understood then why God had told me to do this. It also showed me that if my Jesus could forgive mankind for nailing Him to that cross, then we can forgive too.
"For God so loved the world,that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (KJV)
An excerpt from the book, What is the Role of a Woman? by Dolly M. Holland
