WHAT is GODLY SORROW?

Happy Tuesday! It’s a new day, a new chance to not let adversity take our focus off of our Father whose love never changes no matter what is going on! That truth right there is enough to stir up a good amount of joy! Oh that we would think on the things that are true. Grab your coffee and join me for these discoveries we are making about the recipe of joy!
We discovered that Joy follows Godly sorrow, but what is Godly sorrow? Let’s look at 2^nd Corinthians 7:9-10 where Paul, in his letter to the Church of Corinth is addressing this very subject: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a Godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Whew, what a mouthful. Let me see if I can share an example; it shouldn’t be too hard for I have actually experienced Godly sorrow more times than I care to admit – well, wait a minute! As I wrote that last sentence, I realized that I have misunderstood Godly sorrow for many of my Christian years. See, Godly sorrow does not produce condemnation; nor is it filled with regret, guilt, shame; no, that's worldly sorrow.
This is the kind of worldly sorrow that Paul is talking about. See, that kind of sorrow keeps you doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. So let me start over and say I have experienced Godly sorrow in many areas of my life that have led to repentance, a turning away from that which grieved my Abba Daddy and ripped me off in some way or another!
Let me share one of my first experiences of Godly sorrow that definitely ushered the presence of joy into the situation. I was not quite two years into my marriage and still suffering from bouts of looking back instead of up, truly wondering if God had made a mistake because I was absolutely miserable more than I was joyful! And marriage, for the third time, was still so new! I had gone to a women’s retreat and I don’t even remember what they were talking about as I share this with you, but something stirred up some strong conviction about the way I was loving my husband. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say the ways I was not loving him! There were a whole host of reasons, all of which circled around the many adjustments and ways I was having to stretch to fit into my new skin He was/is trying to dress me in by the use of this marriage!
Anyway, to make that incredibly long story short and to get to the happy ending, I came home from that retreat with a soft and repentant heart. I apologized to my husband for not being the kind of wife I now knew God was calling me, and continues to call me, to be, for not loving him in the ways that marriage requires. I was truly sorry, and because I had that Godly sorrow, immediately, or maybe it was simultaneously, there was a desire to do it differently, a determination to get it right.
I remember the apology as if it were yesterday – it’s been almost eight years ago! He was lying down and I went and sat on the bed, bracing myself in such a way that I could look right at him. I began to share the highlights of the retreat. Their effects were still fresh in my heart, so fresh that the closer I got to the apology my lips began to tremble and my eyes filled up. Suddenly he looked so blurry, but not so blurry that I missed the expression of utter surprise, a sort of stupefied look came over his face as I uttered the unpracticed words of apology.
He brought me down to him and took me into his arms, whispering his unconditional love for me, confirming that God had brought us together and my past would not tear us apart.
Oh the joy that follows Godly sorrow! How about you; do you remember a time that you experienced that type of sorrow that beckoned change? I’d love to hear about it!
Joyfully,

Evinda