Family, Forgiveness & Freedom

 Family, Forgiveness & Freedom 

 ”And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.“ ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭32‬ ‭NKJV 

 It’s Christmas time once again, and most of us have family that we may need to spend time with throughout the season. For some, it’s a joyous time and we have strong family relationships that we cherish and delight to spend time with them. 

If that’s you, thank God for that blessing! There’s many others who have family relationships that are strained at best. We didn’t get to pick our family - that was God’s job. 

However, we can choose how we treat them. That’s always our job. So many people have been hurt, and have hurt themselves or others. The results can bring estrangement and a lot of pain. One thing I have learned in my life’s experiences is that as a daughter, wife and mother, I never wanted to be hurt, nor did I ever want to hurt anyone. 

 As we experience traumatic things that have hurt us in our families, we must first stop and realize that each one has their own hurts and ideas of how to handle them. I hear so many people say they dread getting together with their own family because of past hurts. 

How sad that truly is! God’s plan for family is to love each other unconditionally like He loves us. When there has been hurtful things happen, as Christians, we must be willing to forgive and leave it in the past where it belongs. 

Then we must patiently work together to rebuild the “ancient ruins”. Many may choose to hold grudges for years, refusing to let go of the bitterness and pain. But in so doing, we are choosing to take a daily dose of poison and hope the other person is doing all the suffering. 

 It’s sad that we choose to punish people for their mistakes and hold a grudge, especially when we celebrate the true reason for Christmas which is Jesus, the greatest forgiver of all times! This Christmas, if you have a family member that you need to forgive, you can choose to make an effort to emulate Jesus, to forgive and forget and learn to love again! ❤️‍🩹 

 Love always wins over bitterness and anger! It always triumphs and soothes a hurting heart. As a born again Christian, I pray that this Christmas we will boldly stand for Jesus, and yet humbly follow His pattern of love and forgive those whom we need to forgive. His love never fails and we want to live out that agape kind of love that doesn’t put conditions on our love. 

We love because He loves us! This Christmas, instead of choosing the bondage that bitterness and unforgiveness brings, I pray that we will all choose the freedom that true, godly forgiveness brings. I pray we can act like the One Who designed the family, and reflect His image to a hurting world. 

Only the Lord knows what a difference it can make in how we feel this Christmas. Today the Lord helped me see that I can not only walk in love and forgiveness toward any family members who have hurt me, but I can be free to be the me He created me to be as I stand with Him through it all! 

 May you and your family be so blessed with these loving attributes of God this Christmas - the gifts that keep right on giving all year long! 

 Feel free to share this message with anyone you like. It is a private blog and any replies will not be shared with others. Let us know how we can pray for you! Love and Christmas blessings! 

 Denny and Hanny Stearns Fish n Loaves Ministries, Inc.