HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN FORGIVEN?

         I heard some awesome news this week. My former husband is getting married! Now, this is "awesome" because he said he'd never marry again. (Well, I did, too, for that matter.) But God had different plans!

   

         I'm really happy for him and his new bride because everyone should be as happily married as William and I are. I want that for you, divorced reader, but I especially want that for my former husband. I remember how much I shut myself off from others to live "safely." I didn't date. I worked, went to church and Bible Study, but I lived an isolated life. A self-imposed isolation that seemed to protect me from my relational lot in life, "hurt and be hurt." 

         Last week at Bible Study, our leader asked our group some provocative questions about our progress as Christians. You know, how are you doing in this area of your life? He began with, "How do you know you have forgiven someone?" The discussion approached the typical responses of "forgive and forget," plus more. 

         Jesus and Bill helped me to remember the good memories of my past marriages because there were many. When a painful memory surfaced, I quickly recalled, "Oh, but I have forgiven him for that." I learned that if I am bitter and resentful when I think of a person or an event, then I have not fully forgiven and there's more work to do. But when I remember the wound or the offense and I have total peace, then forgiveness is complete.

         The second question he asked is the title of the blog post today. "How do you know you've been forgiven?" The best response came from a young woman who said, "You know because they don't remind you of what you did." 1st Corinthians 13 says that Love, unconditional love, keeps no record of the wrongs done to it. OUCH! 

         Today I marvel at how God restored and is continually restoring my life. Over three years ago, He spoke to me through a dream, and its interpretation shook off my hermit life to create a community life that I could never have dreamed of. It could not have happened had I not been willing to yield to His Will and to risk experiencing “hurt” again. And so, I am happy beyond words to hear that my former spouse opened his heart to romance again and yielded to God's Will for his life.

         It's never too late to live happily ever after. So, "Dare to dream!"