God is The Answer

Corrie Ten Boom, went through so much in her life. When her and her sister were put into a concentration camp, they led Bible studies in their room at night. Luckily, their hay filled room was also filled with fleas. Which meant they didn’t have to worry about the guards coming around and catching them studying the Bible.

But I want to tell you about one of the more difficult things Corrie went through. She had just given a talk on how God forgives, speaking about how God throws our sins into the depths of the ocean (Micah 7:19). She saw a man making his way up to the stage, as soon as she saw him, she recognised him as being one of the cruellest guards. He had a part to play in the death of her sister.

She froze…

He told her about how he was now a Christian, and how He believed that God had forgiven him for everything he had done. And he proceeded to ask Connie for forgiveness.

All she could see in her mind was the picture of her frail sister. She loved her. And this man had been part of harming her. She hated this man. How could she not, after everything he had done?

Then she was reminded of Romans 5:5 “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (NIV).

At that moment, she realised that she could not forgive this man by herself. She thanked God for how much He loved her, and then he thanked Him that His love is stronger than any hatred that she felt.

It was only because of God’s incredible, perfect love that forgiveness was possible in that moment.

Connie finished by saying,

“Can you forgive?”

“No.”

“I can’t either.”

“But He can!”

Only with God, are we able to truly forgive…

In the same way, have you ever heard the quote, “time heals”? I know many times in my life I have been told, “just give it time”, which is usually followed by the comment of “then you will be okay.”

But it wasn’t until recently that I realised how wrong that was. Time doesn’t help us heal. There isn’t a certain amount of time for each event, that once passed we will feel healed.

Time may fog things over, and help you forget for a little while, it may even give you the opportunity to bury it deep inside and pretend it isn’t there. Although if you still have the feeling in the pit of your stomach, or that anger, or hurt when the topic comes up again, you haven’t healed. You have simply put it out of your mind.

After all,

Time doesn’t heal.

God heals.

Psalm 147:2 (NLT), “He heals the broken hearted and bandages their wounds.”

My challenge this week is to give whatever you are holding onto, to God. Let go of the past, forgive, and let God heal.

Miss Born

Community Christmas Carols - November 25th