Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny… C.S Lewis

Make no mistake about it, in this life you will endure some serious hardships, emotional battles, personal mountains that you have to climb and many other unplanned and trying endurances.  Some of our conflicts are internal, but most involve other people.  We argue, disagree, debate and engage in heated conversations mostly because of a difference of opinion or because the other person just doesn’t see it my way.

Whatever our conflicts, the end result of unresolved or unconcluded conflicts will lead to unforgiveness. Unforgiveness has a friend called regret.  “If only I didn’t engage in that conversation, if only I didn’t say that”, or, “if only I said it this way – perhaps things would be different.”  We sadly can never take back what we say, and once it’s out there, it’s out there.

I have found that resentment, unforgiveness, anger – all those ugly things we hold on to when we are wronged and hurt, can cause so much internal turmoil. This is soul destroying stuff.

Last year I went through a life shattering moment, a season in which I thought I was ready to give up and go home to be with the Lord.  Honestly, it was so terrible I just wanted to die and be done with.  Yes you guessed it.  It involved people and terrible circumstances.  My biggest difficulty with that episode in my life was that I had to forgive and accept.

  1. Forgive the people involved by releasing them of every hold I allowed them to have on me.
  2. Accepting that they were terrible people and that these were the circumstances I found myself in.  I had to accept that they were not the people I thought they were and I had to accept the fact that they were now out of my life for good, never to return.

Sound devastating?  Yes, it truly was.  But now I look back and I can smile at the hardship, because now I have come to understand the power of forgiveness and acceptance. I forgive them for everything that was said and done, and I accept that they are who they are and that they no longer live in my orbit.

If you have difficulty with forgiveness and acceptance, please click on the banner below and embark on a journey of transformation that begins from within.