Here I Go Forgiving....AGAIN

A few years ago I was contacted by a friend of mine from Middle School via Facebook.  I was shocked because I had not spoken to him in years.  In his message to me he apologized to me for not standing up for me when I was being picked on in Middle School.  You can imagine my shock when i received this message.  At first I didn't know what to say.  Of course I forgave him.

It is sometimes easy to forgive people when it has been so long since the offense had happened.  In this case for me, it was easier to forgive.  But, it is not always that easy to forgive.  

As a child when I brothers and I would fight my mom would make us say sorry and forgive each other.  I remember saying apologizing and forgiving and then under my breath say that I didn't mean it.  I know now why my mom made us do that.  She wanted us to not only learn how to forgive each other, but by forgiving each other we are being obedient to God. 

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

The basis for believers forgiving each other is the fact that we ourselves have been forgiven by God.

When someone comes seeking your forgiveness, you have the obligation to grant forgiveness and extend mercy--even if the person has sinned against you repeatedly and regardless of the sin.  Your forgiveness of other is a prerequisite for your receiving God's forgiveness.   God DOES forgive us!

We forgive others if we don't want to disobey God and break our fellowship with Him. The Lord doesn't direct evil against us, though He may chose to allow us to go through a trial resulting from our own sinful choices or from the sinfulness of the world we live in.  

Another aspect of forgiving is forgiving ourselves.  We have to be willing to forgive ourselves.  Through forgiving ourselves, we open the door for God's glory and it provides a place for our own growth.  

Love it best ingredient for forgiveness.  Often the person wounded must forgive with an act of the will, giving time for working through feeling, and experiencing healing.  This is not always easy and it can take time.  

Forgiveness comes with the removal of past offenses from the mind, meditation on God's Word, giving our hurts over to God, praying for the offender (I know this is not always easy), and serving as a willing channel of God's grace.  Revenge is NOT an option because God has promised that He will take care of judgement. 

Meaningful forgiveness demands planning and thought.  Forgiveness is the willingness to search for new solutions.  We must be concerned with seeking forgiveness only for our wrong.  We have to remember that a forgiving attitude does not excuse self, defend self, or accuse others.  

Forgiveness is something that takes time.  It is not something that we can master over night, but with the help and the guidance of Christ, it is something that we can become better at doing. 

Seeking forgiveness frees you to receive God's mercy.  Showing mercy by a forgiving spirit brings blessings from God and gratitude from the one forgiven.  A forgiving spirit brings good to yourself and to others.

Britt Hatcher

Grace and Humility

As I began my Quiet Time (QT) this morning, God had impressed upon my heart grace.  Ah, I love talking about grace, it is one of my most favorite things.  I think that I enjoy it as much as I do because of the amount of grace that God has given me.

Over the past couple years, I have had circumstances that God has poured out His grace upon my life.  While being shown the amount of grace that I have been given, I sometimes stop and look at my life to see where I am showing grace to others.  Yikes!  I am embarrassed to say that sometimes I don't do that, but I am human and I make mistakes.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."  I love that God has chosen to give this to us as a gift.  What a sweet and precious gift we are given.

As we are given this gift of grace by Christ, how often are we giving grace to others?  I am not saying that we need to let people take advantage of us, I am saying that just as Christ has shown us grace, we need to show grace to others.  What a great example that we have to follow!

So, how does humility fit into all of this?  James 4:6 "But he gives us more grace.  That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."  Grace is given to us as a gift, but humility is something that takes work.  God gives us grace in our lives when we need it the most.  Being humble in those situations when he does pour out grace, is a good thing because God chose to give us grace.

Humility is a personal quality of dependence on God and respect for others.  And I will be the first to tell you that this is not always easy.  I have had situations in my life where God has absolutely humbled me, and I am so grateful for those times.

Humility does not comes easily, it can take time to achieve.   But, we have the greatest example of all, Christ!  

Philippians 2:8 "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross."  Wow, I have to stop and think, am I willing to humble myself like that?  .

Christ has given us the ultimate example of humility, grace, and sacrificial love for others.  His life provides so many examples of these.  As believers we need to take heed and humble ourselves.

James 4:10 "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."  We need to humble ourselves before God and man.  Humility does not come from ourselves, but instead from Christ.  As we practice being humble and showing grace, imagine the blessings that we will receive from Christ.



Britt Hatcher

"To Be or Not To Be"

"To be or not to be.." is the opening phrase of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

As silly as it may sound, I sometimes ask myself this question, to be this or to be that.  Lately, I have had many friends and acquaintance's either getting engaged or married, and as much as I long for it to be my time for all of that, I know that God has a plan for me and I have to be content.

Over the the past couple years I have accepted where I am in life and I am content with where God has be right now.  So being content has been on my mind and heart lately and it is actually what was part of my quiet time this morning.

Contentment is the ultimate acceptance of yourself, your surroundings, your past, and your future.  For a believer finding contentment should be effortless, yet getting to the state of contentment is not an easy task.

Satisfaction hen you have very real unmet needs, freedom from worry when you have overwhelming concerns, patience in letting God work when pressures abound--these seem like impossible dreams.  God chose not to give us contentment as a gift.  He chose to rather teach us to be content as you allow Him to be ruler in your life.

Contentment is learned.  Philippians 4:11 says, "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."  Paul is teaching the Philippians more about the providence and provision of God and the expectancy and contentment of the believer who would wait on the Lord.  Believers are to be "content" not WITH circumstances but IN circumstances.  This is something that is developed over time.

As you trust Gods gifts to be sufficient and His assignments to be appropriate, you can accept the way that you look, the means that you have been given, and so on.

Dissatisfaction with areas in your life that can be changed, within divine guidelines, may help you to see that something is missing.  I find myself craving God when I don't have my Quiet Time and I am not in His word on a daily basis, and for me that causes dissatisfaction and discontentment.

Instead of adopting a complaining spirit about where you are in your life, take your dissatisfaction's, worries, and concerns to the Lord.  Being willing in the meantime to be content as you walk the path that God has for you.

We must trust that God has given us everything that we need for this moment in time.

Did They Really Say That?

Have you ever been taunted by thoughts such as, "They don't like me.", "You aren't liked.", "Why did you just say that?", "No one cares, everyone thinks that you are annoying."

I have found myself tormented by destructive thoughts such as these.  These thoughts are dangerous and they are toxic to our souls.  I was having a conversation a while back and the other person said, "I know you think..."  I paused and thought to myself, how do you know what I am thinking?

All too often we assume what people are thinking and as women we do this way too often.  People are not assessing us and thinking about us as much we think they are.  As Christian women we need to hold our thoughts to a higher standard, but we fall to the ways of sin and we allow these toxic thoughts to manipulate us into feeling insecure and inadequate about ourselves.

Philippians 4:6,8 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God....Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."

We are instructed to think and to have our minds on constructive thoughts, not destructive.

I will be the first to tell you that changing from the toxic thoughts to constructive thoughts is not an easy task.  There are some ways that helped me to change my thought pattern.

The first is something that my mom told me growing up, Did someone actually say that, or am I assuming they are thinking it?  If they did not actually say it, and you are assuming it, that is destructive to you and unfair to the other person.  If they actually said it, then that needs to be handled with that person. The second is Being actively involved with truth.  When we spend more time filling our thoughts and our mind with God's truth, there is less room for those destructive and toxic thoughts to creep in.  Finally, are there people or situations that I am surrounding myself with that are encouraging the toxic thoughts?  Taking a step back from situations and/or people that are encouraging these thoughts can be difficult.  I have been in that situation and it is not easy, but having other people who are immersing themselves with God's truth makes this transition much easier.

Things that we encounter in our lives can be much more difficult than just doing the three things above, but this is a great place to start to keep our minds and thoughts pure and constructive rather than toxic and destructive.

BIG Decisions

Life is full of decisions, what am I going to eat, what am I going to wear, where am I going to go to college, am I going to go to college, who am I going to marry, the list goes on and on and on.  Each day we are faced with decisions, some are small simple decisions and other are much harder to decide.

I think back to when I would make decisions as a child, they were simple things like what color crayon do I use to color this flower but, as I have grown and become an adult my decisions have become much bigger and much more difficult to make.

A couple months ago I was presented with an opportunity for a Masters program at my college, and I had a decision to make whether or not I was going to jump at this opportunity.  For me at the point that I am at in my life this was a big decision to make.  If I said yes to this opportunity this would spring board me father into my teaching career and I would be done quicker with my Masters Degree but, at the same time how would I pay for the classes, would this take away time from my family, would I be able to balance my Undergraduate classes along with the new classes.  These and so many more questions were running through my mind. I became overwhelmed and anxious about making a decision.

As I was becoming anxious, I was reminded of Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Oh what a sweet reminder that was!!  Do NOT be anxious, present your requests to God.  Thank you Lord for that! That is just what I needed to be reminded of at that time.

I prayed about this decision that I had in front of me and the Lord directed my path and has blessed me the opportunity to be in the Masters program.

The Lord wants us to come to Him with anything and everything.  He is our rock and refuge.  When we have BIG decisions to make He wants us to come to him.  Sometimes I try to make and figure out BIG decisions on my own, and I find that all too often I crash and burn.

Before jumping into a BIG or small decisions and opportunities, we, as believers, have the opportunity to present those before God and pray about what we are supposed to do with those decisions.   God is with us and He will guide us with every decision both BIG and small in our lives.