Forgive to Live_06

If you came over from Encouragement for Today, welcome. I’m so glad you are here!

Each week a beautiful group of women meet in my home to study The Unburdened Heart. Each week I’m blown away by what God does in their surrendered hearts.

These women don’t pretend to have all the answers. They just know that they are tired of feeling the way they feel, and tired of a person or a childhood or hurt keeping them stuck. And they are delighting in where forgiveness is taking them.

They want more. 

And that’s exactly what our God wants for each of us.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19a (ESV)

In today’s devo I shared how God drew me even deeper into the word forgive, and how that word began to saturate my life as my Heavenly Father led me up new paths.

Just yesterday I asked my friends as we sat around the table: What is the one thing you want from God on this forgiveness journey?

Their answers were varied, and private, but the one thing that resonated is that they wanted something new.

Healthy ways of thinking and feeling. 

Peace. 

Joy. 

Freedom.

All new things if you’ve struggled to forgive.

Forgiving is a harder path in our faith. Can we just admit that together? We surrender to the new direction in which He leads. We trust. We offer up the burden of  resentment, pain, unresolved and untended hurt so that we are free to explore what is next, instead of mired in what “was”.

Those harder paths may not always be easy, but we forgive because it leads us to freedom. Wholeness. A mended heart.

Maybe today, you sense God calling you to forgive. 

In today’s devo I shared a prayer. May I be so bold as to share it with you one more time? 

Dear Lord, I desire to forgive and live free. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but I surrender to what you have for me. Show me day by day what forgiving looks like, and give me wisdom and strength to live it out. Thank You that I can forgive and discover what new paths you have for me, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Unburdened HeartI am thrilled to offer a giveaway of The Unburdened Heart: Finding the Freedom of Forgiveness today to one of you.

I’ll choose a winner from the comments below, but I’m also privileged to listen, pray, and celebrate with you as you share where you are in your forgiveness journey.

The Mended HeartAnd may I share one more resource? My book, The Mended Heart: God’s Healing for Your Broken Places, is available for preorder. It will be released very soon.

The Mended Heart is a powerful look at how Christ came to mend, set free, and heal a hurting heart. It’s interactive. It’s designed to take you step by step to discover that place of joy and wholeness for yourself, and how it’s waiting for you.