I have found myself (yet again!) in the position to extend mercy, grace, and forgiveness. An injustice has occurred against one of my children. He came forward about a sinful situation that he witnessed, and although he did everything appropriately and spoke the truth in love, the messenger is being shot. As a mother this is very difficult to experience. I want to protect my sons from anything that would cause them pain. I am having to pray a lot and remind myself that God calls us to forgive as He forgave us, which is a lot! I know He understands how I feel, too, as His own perfect Son was ridiculed and rejected for speaking the truth.
To make this situation even more difficult, at a meeting to try to bring reconciliation between the two parties, my child was treated with anger and disrespect, with his father and I sitting right there beside him! Interestingly, today's bible study lesson focused on Psalm 123, which says "Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we have endured much contempt" (verse 3). So, I join the psalmist in asking for God's favor and mercy. I'm trusting Jesus to be our Advocate. Sometimes hearing the truth is difficult but my child did the right thing. Although it looks in the natural like he is being punished because of someone else's sin, I am looking to the One who is enthroned in heaven (Psalm123:1), our ultimate Authority, to intervene, convict of sin, protect a relationship, and guard our hearts.
I choose to forgive and because God grants me mercy, I can extend it to someone else. Speaking of mercy, here is a beautiful song about God's mercy that our family watches on EWTN on weekends. It's a Catholic prayer. We love it. Noah sings it and knows all the words. We've watched it so much that we ordered the DVD so we can enjoy it whenever we want. The actual song begins almost three minutes into the video if you are short on time.
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