Proverbs 3:5-8 - "Truth Be Told"

When someone offends you, there is a choice to be made as to whether you will forgive them or you will allow the enemy an open door into your life. You can forgive someone without them ever asking for forgiveness. God gives peace when we make decisions to allow Him to heal the hurts of our heart. His peace is not comprehensible by the world but it is the best. This week's statement to hold onto in the study with Lysa is, "It's hard to be fruitful while we're holding onto what's hurtful." Ouch! That one steps on my toes! If we allow the hurt someone puts on us to fester, it will become like an open sore. It may scab over from time to time but that scab will be ripped off in a heartbeat when the hurt comes crashing down on us. Instead of living in such a manner we need to allow God to heal the hurts of our heart. We need to allow Him to love away the hurts. Such hurts will not just effect our life today but they will have impact on the days ahead. They will not just have an impact on us but on our children and grandchildren. I do not want to put anything negative on my children and grandchildren. I desire to live in God's peace. Therefore, I need to let go of any hurt put upon me. I need to forgive even when someone does not ask for forgiveness. Many times people hurt others without even knowing it. That is why it is so important to ask God to cleanse us every day. There can be known and unknown that needs to be cleansed from our heart. I do not have to be 'right' when someone offends me. All I have to do is be 'right' with God. We were talking in my Wednesday night group about how when we are offended, we need to take a step back before saying something. If we do not do this, we could push the person away from God. That is the last thing I want to do. I woke up with the words to Truth Be Told that Matthew West sings going through my mind.

I say, "I'm fine, yeah, I'm fine, oh, I'm fine, hey, I'm fine"
But I'm not, I'm broken
And when it's out of control I say it's under control
But it's not and You know it
I don't know why it's so hard to admit it
When bein' honest is the only way to fix it
There's no failure, no fall
There's no sin You don't already know
So let the truth be told

Sometimes we say we are fine when we really are not. God knows what we are going through. He knows the hurts of our heart. He knows the joys of our heart. He knows what we need, when we need it. Plain and simple. He knows. I think back to a Scripture from this week's study with Lysa. It is one that we studied in the month of January with our sermon series.

Proverbs 3:8 tells us the result of following verses five and six. It reads in the New International Version: This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Trusting God with the hurts of our heart may not be the easiest thing we can do in life but it will have the greatest rewards. We do not have to understand 'why' people hurt us. We do not have to understand 'why' circumstances are so hurtful. We do not have to understand 'why' God would allow such things to happen to us. All we have to understand is we can live in His peace when we trust Him and allow Him to be in control of our lives. He will take the 'bad' things in life and turn them into 'good' just for us. Woo hoo!

Dear Jesus, Thank You for Your love that impacts my life so greatly! Thank You for giving me the knowledge through Lysa's study about the importance of forgiveness! Thank You for yesterday where You brought my sermon together for Sunday and then provided rest! Thank You for loving me so greatly! Thank You for cleansing me so You can fill me to overflowing with more of You! Lord, I pray for continued guidance with some decisions I need to make. I pray for You to clearly show me Your will in them. Lord, I pray for Your will to be shown to me every moment of every day. I do not want to do anything out of Your will. Lord, direct my steps today to go where You desire, my mouth to speak as You desire, my thoughts to be as You desire so Your will shines brightly through me, and most of all for my attitude be in the right mindset so you will be seen/heard through me. I pray for safe travels for Beth and Bob as they go back to California. I also continue to pray for my sister Linda as she continues her healing from back surgery and David as he heals from his procedure yesterday and awaits results. I also pray for a dear friend dealing with a hurtful family situation. May they find Your peace. Thank You Jesus for being My Truth! Amen.