Tag: forgiveness

The Freedom of Self-Forgiveness

- dannalundstrom

Dear friend,

Do you need to forgive yourself for a mistake but you cannot seem to find the freedom to do so despite your aching desire? If God has forgiven you and me, and He should be the only person that matters, why is it so hard for us to do?
I think sometimes it is easier for me to feel shame or flagrant self-pity, which are both convincing imposters of comfort. Other times I am prone to unconsciously acquiesce to the faulty theology that God does not freely forgive me when I repent and ask for forgiveness.

My unbelief leads me to trust it comes when I earn it when I have worked hard enough when I have paid what I deem to be a reasonable penalty when I have beat myself up enough and more self-imposed modes of retribution, none of which ever are enough. Notice the word; I was used five times in the preceding sentence. Therein lies my problem. I maximize my faulty resourcefulness and minimize my Savior’s free reward. God’s love and forgiveness never change, my remembrance to rest in that truth does.

I love today’s wisdom from Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest: “The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him.”

Isaiah 30:15 is critical for me to turn towards and commit to daily, repeating it to myself, sometimes out loud, to “train my brain” to default there instead of destructing elsewhere. It says: For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.”
One parallel verse is Isaiah 45:22 ~ Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Those two verses, along with multitudes of others are like the cover of a shady tree on a sweltering day. So often the help I need is readily available to me, I am just slow to remember it as my first line of defense instead of my last lane of desperation.  

God’s light is always on.

You are loved.

My Grown Up Christmas List

- dannalundstrom

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Dear Jesus,
My Christmas wish list is not filled with things money can buy, rather with precious, eternal things that only You can help thrive.  When I was a child Santa Claus and gifts were the magic of the season; now it is about growing in my relationship with you that I see Christmases eternal reason.  I have a Christmas wish list from me to You.  It is simple, yet difficult and something only you can shepherd me through.  They are things this world can not satisfy, only You in me can I rely.  I do not ask for a perfect marriage but a peaceful one.  I am not asking for saints as children, but growing sinners who repent and know they are forgiven.  I do not wish for a sin free home, but one where a simple I am sorry I was wrong sets the tone.  I ask not for a life that is pain-free, but one that reflects You in me no matter what my circumstances may be.  In the world where suffering has no prejudice, I ask that you enable me to be a beacon of your message.  Through pain, great platforms are born.  Equip me to impact those watching who desperately need hope in the One person where hearts are transformed.  Thank you, Jesus, for all my blessings, the beautiful and the broken, because it is all of them that create opportunities for Your truth to be spoken.  If any of these requests, Jesus, cannot be, it is ok because it is only Your will that I desire be.  Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me.

I Am Sorry

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

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“Everyone knows that every week or two I am going to screw up.”

I was talking with a friend recently, and I felt the tremendous burden of this statement as the affliction of their heart was revealed.  It was a very sad moment for me, because what my friend truly did not grasp, is that every day I am going to screw up, too.  (Sorry, I hate that word, but to do justice to the burden they were carrying, I am staying true to the quote.)

We are all sinners. Me, you, your neighbor that “appears” to have it all together, your child, your spouse, and even your pastor.  If we are yoked to perfection, we are hopeless.  

What matters is not that “we screw up,” but that we repent and say I am sorry from a place of sincerity in our self and with an awareness of our neediness for a Savior.

I AM SORRY; three little, powerful words that will transform your life!

Isaiah 30:15 ~This is what The Sovereign Lord says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation.”

May you find freedom here today, friends.