This year, I was away from my family but spend the holiday with friends. I am grateful. I ended up keeping myself busy by going to a church service Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That doesn't happen often, ha! Each were great in their own right.
I liked all the songs we sang on Good Friday. I liked the question and answer mini session on Saturday that was different but eye-opening to see that people are hurting and going through all sorts of life events. So, I'm not alone.
The message that day was about how Jesus overcame the obstacle of death so that we can be overcomers, while also touching on the fact that Peter was specifically called out, which is important because he denied Christ. Peter had messed up but God still choose to use him. We, in turn, can have hope. Then Sunday's sermon was about Christ's resurrection. All I can say is praise God we, as Christians, serve a living God!
All of this was great and kept me busy, in a good way. I was able to catch up with friends and see some of them, too. Yet, I think the big takeaway for me this weekend was seeing the movie "I can only imagine."
First, I highly recommend going to see it. Second, I didn't know what to expect exactly since I hadn't seen a preview, but the song with the same title came to mind. It is in fact about that song -- how the man who wrote and sings it came to be that man.
It's an incredible and powerful true story about forgiveness, redemption, and God's power to change people. I don't wanna give away too much in case you see it but the man who sings that song is in the band Mercy Me, who overcame the obstacle of anger, hurt, rejection, and more towards his Dad to be able to forgive and love his Dad in the end.
He was changed by God. His Dad was changed by God. I love that! God can truly do anything! He can take the lowest person or the most self-righteous person or the most hurting person or the most angry person or the most fake person or the most questioning person or the most doubting person or the seemingly most undeserving person… it doesn't matter! Christ changes lives and restores relationships.
We have to listen to truth, to His Word. And guess what? The process isn't always awesome. It will take some work or time to listen to that still, small voice and respond. It will hurt to dig up past offenses, past hurts, past sins. But one must in order to work through them with Christ.
The end result is beyond worth it.
The man who sings that song reaped the reward of a restored relationship with his Dad, relationship with the woman he loved, and relationship with God. It's beautiful. And his story didn't end there.
We are overcomers in Christ alone.
I am overcoming a broken heart right now and pray that the man whose heart I broke is also mended through and by God and that we both go to God wholeheartedly. I know healing will happen with time. Maybe we'll be like this singer/songwriter and we both change for the better by God and reunite down the road of life or maybe God just uses the relationship we had as a catalyst for Him as we go separately into the future. I don't know. I don't know if we both will go to God or what the future holds but I'm choosing to trust God.
Another life example of spectacular change is when I uncovered that I was actually an angry person. Surface level, I would have never ever said I was angry but when I went to God, began reading and studying about anger, and peeling back the layers, I could see anger was an issue in my life. It was rough.
The truth will always come out. Some signs of pent up anger are weight gain, intense fatigue, and memory loss. I had those. Some causes of anger are broken expectations, blocked goals, and effects of others sin upon your life. I had those. A progression is bitterness, resentment, turning into vengeance, then hatred and gratefulness, loss of hope, loss of faith, depression, and finally death. I had progressed to quite a few of those.
Recognizing my anger and dealing with it properly was the only way to go; I had to "give your feelings of anger, hurt, and disappointment to God." I evaluated my anger and forgave the offender through Christ.
My bucket of anger that I had been slowly putting drops into over the years was full and then I dumped the bucket out completely. It felt so good! Now, to prevent anger, I ask for God's help, I spent time in His Word, I pray, I cultivate a spirit of gratitude and humility, I get adequate rest, I try not to do too much in too little time, I look at vulnerable areas and deal with them, I keep short accounts, and I try not to take someone else's responsibility.
I'm happy to say I have been so much happier, physically felt lighter like a weight was lifted, feel as though I have truly forgiven people and could love them and show love to others better, and I knew I was closer to God for dealing with those sins.
Overcoming. Seeing and embracing change. Being redeemed. All these things and more because of Christ, His work on the cross and his rising from death that I celebrate today and beyond!
No comments:
Post a Comment