Merry Christmas Friends, Family and faithful readers from Ferrell Farms!
This is going to be short and sweet today (well maybe not super short...). I have one thing tugging at my heart to share with you. One thing you may not want to hear. One thing that may leave you shaking your head and running for the next exit!
In this season of hope and joy it is time to let love reign and forgive.
As you step into that door, knowing that that family member that was so terrible to you last year is going to be there let me urge you to let forgiveness reign. I know it's hard. I know it's impossible. I know they hurt you to your core, but you can do it. Do you want to know why I can say with great confidence that you CAN forgive them even though it hurts to just think about it? Because I did it, it was impossible, but with Christ forgiveness should flow out of us like water off a waterfall. Freely, with no just cause.
Someone in my life hurt me so badly this Fall (I am not vague-booking here, I am going to protect my family by not saying who. But know that it is not you. If you are thinking it is you, it is not you) Anywhoo, this person hurt me both emotionally but also physically and mentally. She used forced on me and slayed me with her words in this most painful places. She attacked all that I hold dear and it hurt me. I found myself begging her to go, to leave, so that I would not also hurt her. It was hard, it was just the hardest thing.
Since then we have had to coexist in spaces and I have had to bite my tongue. Yes, this is possible, the online generation, the social media generation is not used to holding back the airing of all the dirty laundry. This is a lost art form, we should work on in 2016.
In Christ I am a new creation. As I have leaned into him through this he has shown me the ways he forgives me. How he loves me in my ugliest places and I have been able, through prayer and reading scripture, to forgive her. I have found ways to put my hurt away, to give grace and let God take over. That's the thing about grace, it is UNMERITED favor. She doesn't deserve forgiveness, she hurt me very badly but I don't deserve forgiveness or grace either. Grace is not earned it is given, freely, unmerited. So, thank you God for this grace you gave me. Thank you for showing me how to truly forgive, even when someone is not seeking forgiveness.
May I say again, without Christ this is foreign and impossible. Maybe it even seems ridiculous. How could I forgive her after all she did? Absolutely, it is impossible and I felt like it was impossible. Until I invited God into the problem and realized nothing is impossible in him. He is all about making the impossible come to fruition, that brings him GREAT Glory, and isn't that my goal...
Do it. Forgive. Let God do the impossible in you today. You may have to work really hard at it. It's not easy, but so worth it. So WORTH IT! I am not best friends with her. I will keep a safe distance right now. But forgiveness has freed me, glorified my God and made me understand his love for me even more.My prayer is that she will see Christ in me and seek him. That others will hear this story and be changed for the glory of God is the goal.
Hope. Love. Forgiveness. These things are found at the foot of the cross. If you haven't gone there, may I suggest today seeking forgiveness in Christ so you can also be free.
May your eyes be on him this Christmas.
Much Love,
Chrystan
PS- Forgiveness also applies to yourself. God will forgive you maybe already has, you should also forgive yourself.
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