Day 28

This weekend has been good. I've had the chance to get out of town again, and I enjoyed spending time with the friends and family I saw along the way. Today's lesson comes directly from Beth Moore in her book entitled Praying God's Word. There is an entire section in the book devoted to teaching us to overcome unforgiveness.

LEARN TO PRAY ABOUT THE PERSON WHO HURT YOU.
If you read through the entire book of Psalms, you would see many different feelings and events as they were penned by David. This David made some huge mistakes in his life, and he was able to experience the overwhelming forgiveness and mercy of God in response to his sin and repentance. One thing we see many times throughout the Psalms is David pouring his heart out to God in a real, intimate way.

"I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble." Psalm 62:8
--We are supposed to call out to God and tell Him what has been done to us. We are allowed to complain and vent to Him because He is big enough to hear our prayers and handle our enemies in His own just, righteous way.

Much like the exercise in writing down reasons we are angry, expressing these problems to God helps to get them out of our hearts. We then need to truly lay these burdens down. We should not try to pick them back up tomorrow, next week, or next year. Once we've said our piece, God is in control, and we relinquish our hold on them.

Beth Moore says that there are 2 important things that happen when we learn to pray honestly about the person who has hurt us:
1. We pour the hurt out rather than allowing it to remain and turn bitter.
2. We articulate our own feelings, thereby placing them in view before our own eyes as well as God's.

Talking things out with God can help us to see the truth about what has been done to us and what needs to be forgiven. I plan to sit down and tell God just how deeply I've been wounded so that He may continue to heal the pain. Getting the toxins out of my heart is a high priority right now, and when it is done, I will be able to take one more step forward on this rocky road of forgiveness.