Forgiveness breeds freedom.

it's baffling to me how influential our families are. how a simple word or action from a mother or father or even a cousin can cause a life long alteration that will either make us or break us.

i've been praying really hard for my family recently. finding myself to the point of being heart broken over the state in which we are all in. i include myself in this when i say this, but my family is horribly broken. and i don't mean this in that we aren't a close family... but in that we all personally deal with something too big for any man to fix... something that only God himself can heal in us. and i can't help but wonder why... why is it that we all have this one tragic thing in common. and it is simply that none of us, not even myself, know how to handle our issues. whether they be as small as a pet dying or a cheating spouse. so we all find ourselves in a cycle of self medication. none of us running to our true Father for help, but to the world...

why is it so hard for us to forgive? to let go and just brush our knees off and keep going? why do NONE of us realize that by us holding onto these hurts, we are only hurting ourselves. and then we are so blind to see that we allow these hurts to control our lives... making us live in fear and anxiety. God did not make his children to live these sorts of lives. we are to live boldly, love hard, and take advantage of the lives he blessed us with. i even have to ask myself this... why can i not just forgive? why can i not simply let go of these past hurts and just honestly not care what those people did to me? the past is the past. i have to learn from it and move on. i have got to come to terms with the fact that i may NEVER get an apology from those people, but yet still forgive them just the same. forgetting the past, and moving on. i have got to learn how to handle my problems in a healthy way. and most importantly, forgive others, just like Christ forgives me.

i truly believe that forgiveness breeds freedom. that is why we are free in Christ... he bled himself dry for us, so that in that beautifully horrific act of love and forgiveness, we are free.