In God We Trust

For those of us who are a believer and follower of Christ, the phrase "In God we trust" is (supposed to be) more than just a phrase that appears upon US currency, but rather, more of a life long motto and statement of fact.  And while we do say it, do we really mean it?  Do we really trust God?

For instance, no few know the scripture verse from Matthew chapter 6, verse 34:  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."  Yet, we do still worry, do we not.  And not even always about huge life and death matters but, more often than not, we do sweat the "little things".  While one could probably fill pages about trusting God with everything from our tiny day to day cares to those of much greater span, that is not what has been placed upon my heart and mind at the moment.

At this moment, it is FORGIVENESS which has my focus.

Now then, we know that we are called by Christ to forgive.  That is (or it should be anyway) nothing new especially to those of us who call ourselves by His name.  We are to forgive, just as we ourselves, have been forgiven.

It may come as a bit of a suprise to you, that just saying "I forgive <whatever>/<whomever>" does not make it so.  After all, it is our heart that God sees with such amazing clarity and not whatever lip  service we say and offer or whatever forced action we may take.  So merely saying the phrase yet still holding onto resentment or bitterness within our heart towards another, is of little use and is as a fake as a "three dollar bill".  So what does the term "In God we trust" have to do with forgiveness?

Everything.

You know, I have been trying to just rattle off a nice little example to use here, but since this is one of those times in which I am writing as He walks me personally through things, it appears that this will be another one of those times in which I get to share some personal information.

Some time back, I went through a pretty rough spot in life.  A long term relationship had ended.  Friendships were broken.  Seperation from a church that I was comfortable in.  People whom I had considered to be friends seemingly vanished from my life.  All in all, a pretty icky time period for yours truly.  And, as you may have noticed, there were other people involved.  And yes, a good chunk were saved themselves which, I got to tell you, made things all the harder to deal with.  Now then, I am not so foolish as to lay full blame upon others.  I played my part and for that I do take responsiblity.  But, I do have to admit here that I was hurt.  Very to be honest.

Now as a "good little Christian" I would so love to tell you that I forgave and just moved on.  I could tell you that but, as any who follow this to any amount should know, I try to be honest.  So I cannot tell you that even though I did try and tell myself that all the while with some rather nasty stuff away churning within me.

I did try to forgive those whom I had perceived to have intentionally caused me such pain and suffering (I say perceived because we frequently tend to see things from our view point that another may not either see nor even meant).  But all I was doing was saying it.  Eventually, God was gracious enough to allow me to see that and led me to search out a bit more about what actually forgiving someone was.  About how it involved releasing another's (or my own) actions from my own personal judgements among other things.  How it is a choice that we make - we choose to forgive - it is an action not merely a passive decision.

So had I forgiven the past after that little tour?  While I was closer, again I must admit that no, I had not completely let it go.  Some still hung on.  And I knew it.  Until He gave me that final puzzle piece that (somehow) I had missed in the shuffle.

"In God we trust"

Romans 8, verse 28 reads:  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.."

I have said it before and I will say it again - I have been truly blessed in that God allows me to see purpose in past events - both good and bad.  I know it is not something that everyone sees, so yes, I do consider myself blessed.

At present, I am back in the town I grew up in and had no happy memories of.  That has changed as I see it so differently than I did when I was growing up here.  Then again, since we "are" new creations upon salvation, I guess "I" never really did live here before in a sense.  I am in a relationship with a wonderful Christian woman who shares so much of my own heart in so many different areas, not the least of which is all things of Christ in nature.  I have become a bit closer to my parents than I had been probably ever before.  And, it appears that I am to be entering university this upcoming fall to study theology as I have finally finished arguing and trying to comprimise with God over the call He has put so very hard upon my life.

Sounds good eh?  Here is the kicker - NONE of that would have likely been even vaguely possible had I still been in that nice comfortable place I had been in before.  Had not God allowed those (unpleasant) events to unfold in my life, I would have missed so very, very much.

Now the tie in between forgiveness, Romans 8:28 and our recurring theme becomes much clearer.

IF I truly do trust God and that does include believing what He says in Romans 8 (and the rest of His word as well), then how could I even conceive holding any kind of resentment towards another due to, well, anything really.  See, in my own case, had He not allowed things to happen the way they had, I would not be where I am now.  That does not even take into account whatever has happened with everyone else involved or with those whom I have become involved with since.  Things played out the way they did because they had to for (at least) MY own good.  God knew what I needed after all just as well as He knew what He needed and wanted from me.

Do you see it?  Those things in our life that we can so easily hold a grudge against someone because of - if we truly trust that God is in control and that He is doing what is the best for us - then they are almost no more than stepping stones along the way.  Whether they be for our benefit, anothers' or both.  Granted we may never get to see all of the purpose behind things, but to trust in Him means that we KNOW that there is a purpose and it is a good one for all concerned.

So trust God and make the conscious decision to let go of those wounded feelings and ill will - forgive just as you have been forgiven.