Dear Ones,
Hope you had a great weekend. We enjoyed celebrating Paul’s birthday. Today I plan to make cookies on a stick, go for a treatment and then to my exercise class.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Forgiveness in our lives is so important and affects our health as well. Dr. Colbert writes that according to medical research, 75-90 % of illness and disease is stress related. Bitterness causes stress which interferes with our body’s ability to kill diseased cells and to prevent them from spreading. But when we get rid of anger and stress, our muscles relax, we are less anxious, and have more energy, and immune system can get strong. I was amazed to read of people who had only a short time to live with various diseases, after giving up their bitterness and forgiving people in their lives, went on to live a normal long life. Joel Osteen’s mom was one such person as she had liver cancer and the doctors gave her only 2 months to live. She ended up writing letters to 7 people who she may have offended or that she needed to forgive, including her husband, and afterwards she defeated her cancer and is in her nineties and still going strong. Wow! That shows you what unforgiveness and bitterness do to our bodies.

Psychologist, Bob Enright, pioneered a study on forgiveness and wrote, “true forgiveness goes a step further, offering something positive -empathy, compassion, understanding-toward the person who hurt you. That element makes forgiveness both a virtue and a powerful construct in positive psychology.” As Christians we are to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave us” (Eph. 4:32) We are to want the best for others, even those that have hurt us, and not to keep track of wrongs done to us, for the Lord wipes out our record of all wrongs. As I read this I was convicted of someone I had forgiven long ago but I had to admit, I didn’t wish her well or prayed for the Lord to bless her life. So I had to stop in the writing of this and pray and just do that.

Forgiveness process starts by uncovering our negative feelings about the offense done to us, and then we have to decide to forgive. But we need to go on towards understanding the offending person and have empathy and compassion for him or her. We begin to see the other person as someone wounded. Forgiveness won’t necessarily bring them into close relationship with us in every instance and may not always be wise. But we are to walk in love and forgiveness

Challenge for today: If the Holy Spirit convicts you of someone you need to forgive, pray:

“Lord, I choose to forgive___________, and release him (or her) from anything they did to me or my family. I let go of any desire for revenge and trust you to deal justly and mercifully. Forgive me for my part and help me to keep no record of wrongs. May I cancel the debt of any apology they owe to me and ask you bless ______ and set him (or her) free. Amen
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy