Forgiveness Ensures Freedom

Over the weekend our organization has been servicing women who were sexually abused by those close to them during their childhood.  This devotion was especially purposeful to me as I have been thinking back over these sweet women that have lived with a life time of fears that have crippled them in areas where others have the opportunity to live thoughtlessly. When my dad wrapped his arms around me I was thoughtless to any harm, when my grandfather bounced me on his knee I was thoughtless to anything other than sheer giddiness and trust.  I have lived many years thoughtlessly about the travesties that exist behind the doors of homes where women and children are trapped.  This is the reason that KB is now thoughtful in where individuals are bound by abuse, isolation, pain, fear.  I answered when God called me to go for this cause.  I know not everyone has been called to this, because God is calling out for other needs to be met as well.  However, if He is and you simply do not know where to get started, how to get equipped - please contact us and we will be glad to help you get involved in this "good fight". 

With the love of Christ I pray that we all seek His will, His purpose and learn how to utilize the armor He has given us.  This starts with forgiveness so that we have no vulnerability with the enemy encamped about us.

Be in Peace, Keep your Peace and above all else Love them for Him.

Kisses,
C

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

"But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15).

Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) was born in Amsterdam and raised in the Dutch Reformed Church. When the Nazis came to power in the late 1930s, Corrie and her family hid Jews behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom. In 1944, Corrie's family was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück, one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. There, Corrie's entire family died. Corrie herself was scheduled for execution - but she was released shortly before the end of World War II because of a clerical error.

Corrie concluded that God had saved her for a purpose. She committed her life to preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, speaking in churches, tent meetings, and open-air rallies. At one meeting in Germany in 1947, she taught on God's forgiveness. Afterwards, a man came up to her and introduced himself as a former Ravensbrück guard - but Corrie needed no introduction. She remembered him well. He was notorious for his cruelty.
"I've become a Christian since the war," he said. "I know God has forgiven me for the horrible things I did, but I would like to hear it from you. Could you tell me that you've forgiven me, too?" He put out his hand.
Corrie stood there for what seemed an eternity, unable to think of anything but the horrors this man had committed. Then she remembered the words of Jesus that required her to forgive ANY sin. She silently prayed, "Jesus, help me!" ...then she took the man's hand and cried out, "I forgive you, brother!" She later recalled, "I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then."
That was the defining moment in Corrie's ministry. Over the years that followed, she took the Christian gospel to more than sixty countries around the world and changed hundreds of thousands of lives through her speaking, writing, and the motion picture The Hiding Place, based on her autobiography.

If we want to be used in a great way by God, we must be willing to forgive those who may be a great source a pain in our lives.

Is there someone who needs your forgiveness today?