Forgiveness!

When I was in 7th grade, I was a busy little thing. I was in band, choir, cheerleading and FCA. I was also big into making new friends. We all know what it's like to be in 7th Grade and we all know at that moment in life, how important to feel accepted is. I had plenty of friends, but I decided I wanted to branch out. So, I began to make friends with others. I started spending time with one girl in particular and we just hit it off. We began to go to each others homes and spend all our study halls together. After awhile, out of the blue, another girl would come up to me and just start screaming and swearing at me. Each day she would come over to my locker and just let me verbally have it. Then she began to do it more often and started screaming at me in the locker rooms until it would bring me to tears. I couldn't figure out why she had focused so hard on me. Assuming she was a crazy person, and had lost all sense of reason, I began to try to avoid her as much as I could. No matter what though, she still found me. Finally one day, my soft, bubbly, little teenage heart had had enough and I just started screaming back at her. She stopped and began to leave me alone. After talking with my new friend, I found out that this girl use to hang out with her all the time and she wasn't actually crazy, but jealous of me. I had taken one of her friends away from her and she had been overcome with emotion. Here I thought this tough girl who acted like she wanted to harm me, wasn't tough at all. She was hurting inside and didn't know how to truly express it. At that moment, I could have continued on and tried to hurt her for all the times she attacked me. Instead, I decided to forgive her and try to understand the loneliness she had been facing.

In Psalm 103:12, the Bible says, "He has removed our sins as far from us as far as the East is from the West." Here it tells us of God's unending love for us. His forgiveness knows no limits. It is so easy for Him to forgive us, yet we seem unable to do the same. Someone says or does something cruel to us and immediately we are hurt and want to retaliate. We should always take the time to cool off, pray for that person and begin to leave it in God's hands. Now, I know how tough that can be, but as we do, God will begin to soften our hearts towards that person and give us understanding. We may not see what is going on in their life that has caused them so much pain. Remember, there are two sides to every story! Let's begin to pray for those who upset us and not be quick to judge them back. We need to begin to ask God to heal them of what is causing them hurt and pain. In return, God can heal you of the pain they have caused you, and help you to truly forgive them. Remember, we are all imperfect and have all done things that have hurt or upset others. God forgives us for all the many things we have done, let us forgive others and let it go!