When you hold resentment toward another (person), you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
— Catherine Ponder

Greetings, friends!  I hope the new g-mail system worked for you last week.  Of course, if you didn't get it, how would you know???!  Here's hoping its working!

I’ll bet if you looked back at my history of Encouraging Words I’ve written a bunch about forgiveness, and for good reason.  Forgiveness is important stuff, and I want you to be free, truly free.  You’ll never get there until forgiveness rules your spirit.

I know.  I have forgiveness issues, too.  I would never suggest forgiveness is easy; it isn’t.  It’s a struggle, every day, but only if we struggle against the enslavement of resentment, anger, bitterness, and pain.  Don’t struggle and there is no (apparent) problem.  Apparent, I say, because even in the absence of struggle these poisons will eat us up from the inside out.

As a child I watched a show called “I Dream of Jeannie”.  She would twitch her nose and amazing things would happen.  I haven’t met Jeannie.  I’ve met life, and life tells me to create change one step at a time.  Forgiveness for me has been similar to my efforts to eat guacamole.  Really.  I hated the stuff at first; I had to force myself to eat it as the healthy Mexican choice.  But I ate it, time after time, until the distaste vanished and the love came.  It was a struggle, but that’s forgiveness for you. 

What is your distasteful situation?  Who is your distasteful person?  What was your distasteful event?  Are you harboring anger, bitterness, pain, unforgiveness?  Take it step by step.  Make yourself think about it, again and again.  Struggle with it again and again and again until you know forgiveness rules the spirit.  I want you to be free, and I’ll bet you do, too!  So be free, and let the journey begin today!  Have a great week!

Matthew 6:12