Blooming

After going to the Beth Moore conference, I was rejuvenated. I had a fire in my heart and since I was encouraged to "Bloom where I'm planted", God was going to use me to reach others.

 

I started seeking the Lord and wondering how He was going to use me. I knew it was gonna be on the topic of forgiveness....but how? I had this "How to Walk Free Packet" that I was passing out to people with little or no response. He placed  a desire in my heart to teach a class,but just that little packet didn't carry enough weight on it's own to hold a class, so I waited patiently on the Lord to open the doors and lead the way.

Well, every morning on the way back from taking the kids to school, I listened to James Macdonald on CSN (Christian Satellite Network 90.5). He is an outstanding teacher of the Word, I just love him.

One morning he started talking about forgiveness and the impact it makes in your life. He started talking a little bit about his journey and how the Lord led him to write a study called "Have the Funeral" a journey through forgiveness that ends in burying the pain of the past. He followed with a question: Do you want to start your own small group class teaching others about the importance of forgiveness? If so, this study is for you!

WOW!!! Really? The door swung wide open on that one! So I contacted Calvary and expressed my desire to start a forgiveness class at the church. They were fully supportive and within a few weeks, November 10, 2011, I started facilitating this forgiveness class.

Thankfully, my class was very small and filled only with women and most of them were my family! lol! The reason I say thankfully is because I really had never shared my story with others face to face. I would give them the packet and encourage them to read it on their own time. But, during our first session, as I started sharing my personal journey through forgiveness, the tears just started to flow. Really, I was a mess through the first 3 weeks of this 6 week class. It really was emotional for me because here I was, the Queen of un forgiveness, sharing with others what the Lord has done in my life to move past the pain of my past and enter into His peace. He was using me to pass on this freedom to others.

 I was completely in Awe. I would have never thought this is the way God was going to use me!!!

As the Word says in Isaiah 55:9 "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

It was so amazing how well this study went hand in hand with the "how to walk Free" packet. It was divinely put together. To date I think I have been blessed with the privledge of facilitating about 7 or 8 separate sessions and to see the impact forgiveness has in other peoples lives is absolutely amazing!

I can't even begin to tell you some of the stories I have heard. Awe inspiring! There has been countless stories about the restoration of relationships. How the Lord made Divine appointments with the very people that were high on their un forgiveness lists. Some they haven't seen for years, but, the power of forgiveness broke down the walls they had built up towards that person and for the first time saw them as someone God loves and that they are in desperate need of a savior, just as they once were.

They were putting on their love goggles and seeing the way Christ does. Through love.

The greatest Commandment is found in Luke 10:25-28. One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live.

There is power in forgiveness!