Overcome with Sorrow
This week we gathered together for hot tea and devotions in my room,
As I began to read through with the ladies some of the passages, I found them highly convicting.
This last week with Valentines proved to be very Shakespearean, full of friends betraying and encouraging misunderstandings of my conduct. One friend in particular has consistently behaved this way and I was encouraged to cut off with her.
But then I was struck with this passage "if your brother has wronged you forgive and comfort him, lest he should be overcome with sorrow."
What do I do with a lesson that I very much wanted to ignore in my own life?
Be humbled by it, be a teachable teacher, reminded of my own humanity by seeing it revile at this discomfort. I wanted to be free from her, but my freedom may very well result in her chains.
David said, "Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight," I wondered how he may have the chutzpah to say that when he slept with Bathsheba and murdered her husband.
Because, although we wrong one another, sin is not a mere wrong, it is an eternal evil as a direct affront to God. The wages of wronging me may result in my cold looks or bitterness, but the wages of sin is death, something by which I cannot judge you for I am also judged by it.
Forgive and comfort. I cringed, but it was right to accept and finish our devotions that night without smoothing over the fullness of that command. I felt so full once I accepted what I was teaching, and I found the ladies responding deeply as well. There was no need to share my own dilemma with them, it was best to silently take my own reproof and listen intently to how it influenced them reading these scriptures.
One freshman broke into tears and explained her life of bitterness toward a distant parent, we consoled her, laid hands on her and prayed. She desires to walk in forgiveness and we told her that although this is not a light matter it is not too heavy for Messiah to empower her in.
The night was beautiful and I found my heart rejoicing over these ladies, their willingness to respond to G-d's guidance enriches me in mine. Several hard conversations have come and gone and the fullness of love in my heart in the face of disappointments was unwavering, this week my delight was in the Lord!
I hope the memory of this lesson remains even when the feeling fades. The memory of a heart delightful and pliable to its King and also overflowing with His joyous love, a love not only for me to distribute but also to live in myself.
As I began to read through with the ladies some of the passages, I found them highly convicting.
This last week with Valentines proved to be very Shakespearean, full of friends betraying and encouraging misunderstandings of my conduct. One friend in particular has consistently behaved this way and I was encouraged to cut off with her.
But then I was struck with this passage "if your brother has wronged you forgive and comfort him, lest he should be overcome with sorrow."
What do I do with a lesson that I very much wanted to ignore in my own life?
Be humbled by it, be a teachable teacher, reminded of my own humanity by seeing it revile at this discomfort. I wanted to be free from her, but my freedom may very well result in her chains.
David said, "Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight," I wondered how he may have the chutzpah to say that when he slept with Bathsheba and murdered her husband.
Because, although we wrong one another, sin is not a mere wrong, it is an eternal evil as a direct affront to God. The wages of wronging me may result in my cold looks or bitterness, but the wages of sin is death, something by which I cannot judge you for I am also judged by it.
Forgive and comfort. I cringed, but it was right to accept and finish our devotions that night without smoothing over the fullness of that command. I felt so full once I accepted what I was teaching, and I found the ladies responding deeply as well. There was no need to share my own dilemma with them, it was best to silently take my own reproof and listen intently to how it influenced them reading these scriptures.
One freshman broke into tears and explained her life of bitterness toward a distant parent, we consoled her, laid hands on her and prayed. She desires to walk in forgiveness and we told her that although this is not a light matter it is not too heavy for Messiah to empower her in.
The night was beautiful and I found my heart rejoicing over these ladies, their willingness to respond to G-d's guidance enriches me in mine. Several hard conversations have come and gone and the fullness of love in my heart in the face of disappointments was unwavering, this week my delight was in the Lord!
I hope the memory of this lesson remains even when the feeling fades. The memory of a heart delightful and pliable to its King and also overflowing with His joyous love, a love not only for me to distribute but also to live in myself.
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