Happy Friday! Thank you in advance for taking time
and joining me for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith
Filled Friday with Trench
Classes United.
A few days ago I was talking with a friend; we were having great conversation, and boom! She mentioned something that she had no idea was very sensitive to me about a certain person and what that person had said. Now, I didn’t show my hurt and anger; I hid them from her, afraid to let my tongue unleash everything my heart was bursting to get out.
But when I got home, I
vented to my husband and spent time praying over it, but this tiny comment
planted a tiny seed of resentment and bitterness within me. It wasn’t until the
next morning, which just happened to be Sunday that I realized that this seed
of bitterness had taken root and that I was watering it with all my anger and
hurt.
God knew my great struggle
with this issue, and that I wasn’t releasing it, and He revealed that the next
morning in church through the message. Take a look at the verse below…. and see
how faithful our God is!
James5:9 New International Version (NIV) 9Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you
will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
This verse smacked me hard right in my heart: Don’t grumble against one another, even
if they are wrong in their doing. God is the judge and is standing at the door.
I believed I had every right to hold onto this anger yet
God, in His grace, showed me that it would only destroy me and do nothing to
the one who caused the hurt. The enemy relentlessly sends his army after us,
knowing just what is going to send our vision off of God and onto the issue at
hand. He wants to distract us, to keep us trapped in the chaos that can so
easily consumes us.
I must endure. I must be patient in times of hurts, anger,
and suffering. It may seem like an infinite trail that will never let up, but
the verse below tells me that God will count those who endure blessed. That
through this trail, if I keep my focus on my Jesus, loving those who seem
impossible to love isn’t so impossible after all. It’s not through my love,
strength, but through Christ’s love and strength through me. James 5:10-11: 10 Brothers
and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As
you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of
Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought
about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Beloveds, are your struggling with bitterness and anger in your
heart? Has someone hurt you so much that you can’t comprehend forgiveness for
them? Let me encourage you, don’t let the bitterness and anger fester inside of
you because it will grow like weeds out of control. It will snuff out every
beautiful flower that has taken root and has bloomed in you. Lay it at the
Judge’s feet, for He is standing at the door.
Gripped In His Grace,
Ashley
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