Glory {Art 2016} Scripture Challenge #8, Hurt and Forgiveness

The Study

Last week I was hurt deeply by someone very close to me. I cried for a long time, and I called my mom to rant. Thankfully she wasn't home because that's not who God wanted me to call. I was blindsided by what happened, and I turned to vent. When Mom wasn't available, I turned to the Lord and asked "What am I to learn from this? Why did this happen?" My questions still go unanswered but I am watching for the lesson. Am I still hurt? Absolutely! But I felt the Lord wanted me to settle this so I called the person immediately but they did not answer the phone. I ended up e-mailing the person a very lengthy message. I don't remember starting the e-mail or finishing it. The words just came, and I felt such a relief knowing my feelings were stated and heard. This person did not have the facts correct. Why couldn't this person call and talk to me instead of attacking me and ones I love via e-mail? I will never know the answers. The person that received my message, said they would call to discuss it with me after receiving my e-mail but they never did. I am trying to let it go because I said what God wanted me to say, and I have peace. Now if I could just get Satan out of the way as he tries to bring it back up when I sleep. Has this happened to you? How have you handled it? Do you run to others? Do you run to the Lord? What should we do next?

First, I must forgive this person, and you must forgive the person that wronged you. Whether or not this person ever agrees with me is not for me to worry about but forgiving this person is what I am to do because God has forgiven me, and He has forgiven you.

Ephesians 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace."

Colossians 1:13-14 "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

I found this on the American Bible Society blog about forgiveness "But forgiveness doesn’t excuse the crime. It doesn’t minimize it. It doesn’t say it was okay. In fact, it does exactly the opposite. It squarely faces the offense. It says, 'You did wrong, and it hurt me badly. But now I’m choosing not to hate you for it.' God does not shrug off our sin. He asks us to own up to it. We should do the same as we forgive others."

I love that. Do you feel that things have to be 'happy' again once you forgive someone? When someone hurts us or has wronged us, we need to work it out with that person first. Pray hard, and realize that you may have sinned yourself. We should have a desire to restore the relationship not a desire to be proven right. But maybe that someone doesn't want to forgive you. How do you handle that? My pastor once told me that sometimes relationships are not meant to be restored but we are to forgive the person so we can move on. That has helped me in a relationship that I knew would never be restored. Is there someone maybe that you yourself are withholding forgiveness from? And what can you do to bless and love someone that has hurt you? Are you praying for them?

Psalm 103:10 "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities."

Isaiah 1:18 "'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'"

Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Mark 11:25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Romans 12:18 "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."

Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

We need to be in the habit of forgiving. If we can forgive 77 times, then we will be in the habit of forgiving!

Matthew 18:21-22 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'"

The Art
For my Journaling {Bible} page today, I chose to use the Luke 6:37 verse above. I then noted in the margins a truth from my Life Application Bible about this verse. The truth says "A forgiving spirit demonstrates that a person has received God's forgiveness." I changed it up a bit to personalize it. :)

For this particular page, I painted directly onto the margin. Before painting, I put down a very thin layer of Ranger Multi Matte Medium. Then I used a stencil and Tim Holtz Distress paints to add flowers directly to my page. Here is how it looked at that point:

Then I doodled around the flowers and added my text to finish.

I needed to write this for today. I needed these scriptures as it is all so fresh. I hope some of you are helped by this today too. Being attacked and forgiving someone is hard. But with the Lord, we can do just that because He has forgiven us!

Feel free to join us on the Facebook page where some people will be sharing their creations. We also have some discussions that will be going on there too about the study. If you don't use Facebook and want to share your creation here, please do so by leaving a link in the comment section. I am no longer paying for InLinkz. To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here. May the Lord help you get in the habit of forgiving!

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