Mon, 24 Jul 2006 LIFE

Rom. 8:37; John 16:33; Eph. 4:-32-31; Matt. 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 17:3

Life in itself is full of joy and pain. The things that we experience along life's paths affect us and help set our patterns or lifestyle habits.

Many times we hear of the extremely violent childhood of a murderer or that a child molester was molested as a child. How often do we hear of the children who overcame the wicked childhood and lived a normal life.

Lately television and movie personalities have come forth with tragic stories of abuse and rape. We are happy for them that they have overcome, we are also happy for the unsung heroes who have survived and accomplished living a ghost free life.

But what of those who are haunted by the ghosts of abuse and neglect. The ones who have survived but still carrying the pain with them. There is hope.There is more than hope there is an answer. There is relief and peace. We find this by taking it to the Lord.

Sounds easy, but what of the reality of being free. Well, to be honest we make it hard. The Bible tells us to take all our worries and cares to the Lord. There are steps we have to take to give it to God.

First we have to forgive. Yes, forgive and not just the person or persons, but ourselves. Ourselves, you tell me, we have no idea what was done to you. No personally we don't know your individual story. But yes we both could write lists that probably contain it or something very close. What is important is to forgive yourself for carrying all this around for however long. You did not deserve it, nor did you ask for it. It was not your fault. Do not accept responsibility for what you did not do. Let it go and go on. Speak out loud I am not responsible for this and I will go on.

Now to forgive that person. Let me ask you this question, could or would you physically carry this person on your back 24 hours a day 7 days a week for he rest of your life? Well, until you forgive them, you are doing just that.

Get the load off, drop it like a cancer that is eating you up, because this person is. And if you don't feel like forgiving them, well guess what, ask God for the forgiveness to forgive them. It is when we are weak that His strength is made evident. And He will give it to you.

Now ask God to give you peace. He is our comforter.

But what purpose has this served. Well, that is up to you. You can go on with life. Chances are that sooner or later you will be able to use what happened to you to help someone else. Someone will say no one understands what they are going through and you will be able to say oh yes I do. Let them know you do understand, and help them.

Now we told you in our intro that we would share some of our stories with you and this is one of those times. There is a caution with this story--DO NOT do this unless you know the Lord is telling you to do it.

rECj Many years ago I was beaten severely by a boyfriend, my head was the size of a basketball. The man thought he had thrown me into water but I landed on rocks. I got up and made my way to the road and he turned around and tried to run me over with his car. A car with men and children pulled over and pulled me into their vehicle and got me to the hospital. I with the grace of God came out with no lasting injuries.

AND the rest of the story.....Years later I was to meet this man again, he was down and out, I took him to my house and fed him, and then bagged up groceries for him to take home. Shortly afterwards his father died and I was there holding his hand through the services. He asked me how can you do this after what I did to you. It opened the door for me to tell him why I was able to. Now I don't know what happened to him, but I do know one thing he knows about Jesus.

God can give you peace about anything, He is our Father, our Healer, our Comforter, our Friend and He never leaves us or forsakes us. We urge you to let go of the past whatever it is and go forth in Christ.

LJG I too know what it is like to be beat by a man. Never to the extend of my sweet rECj. But in the head and back. It hurt. Oh yea it did. I can't imagine what rECj went thru but in my own way I went thru a lot of pain as well. For years I thought about this part of my life. Yes, I was out of the will of God. I am a firm believer in PRAY. My prayers weren't getting answered and I complained to God about this many times. Then one day He spoke to me and showed me where I was wrong. I had not forgiven this man for his actions. It still took me a few more years to be able to forgive. But I did. And yes, my prayers started getting answered once again. It took me longer to forgive myself. Give it a try. It really does work.

As always we are here for you, God bless and keep you growing rECj/LJG