Bread for the Journey

Recently my husband and I attended a Renewal of Vows celebration. 

It was our first time to witness such a ceremony and we came away simply awed and amazed 

at the miracle of forgiveness and grace.

Truly a celebration!

A broken marriage that looked beyond repair ...

 made new by repentance and forgiveness.

It sounds simple enough in theory, but how well we know 

there can be sins comitted against us that seem impossible to forgive. 

We may feel that by forgiving, we are justifying the wrong. 

We may fear that justice will not prevail.

Maybe the wrongdoer does not deserve forgiveness.

Sometimes we say we forgive, but deep inside

we hold on just a bit of that power, that control

of making the other person feel indebted.

I was reading in Isaiah 1: 2

Hear, oh heavens: Listen, O earth: 

For the Lord has spoken:

"I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me."

The Bible says we all have turned against God,

But what does He also say?

"Come now let us reason together ...

though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

God, who made us, longs for re-union.

Again and again He will forgive us.

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake,

and remembers your sins no more."

Isaiah 43: 25

What an example! If God forgives for His own sake,

maybe it is something we should think about as well.

Today, I'm thankful that four children will grow up

in a home with their mom and dad

and always remember the power of forgiveness.

May the Lord help us to extend forgiveness and experience the blessing thereof.