ABUNDANT LIVING KEY #5: FIND FREEDOM . . . FORGIVE!

Have you ever thought about how much freedom comes with the act of forgiving someone?  

Here we are with the key to the next door, which is the letter "F":  Find Freedom . . . Forgive.
Add the letter F to the last four.  Anyone ready to give the phrase a try?  You only get one chance, however!  So you may want to wait until you are certain.

Bible verse for the week:  "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions (sins) from us."  Psalm 103:12

"We cannot put off the act of forgiveness indefinitely and still honor our Savior, who went through inexpressible torture to make forgiveness available for us."  (The View From Eternity)

Are you having any trouble getting your vehicle up to speed?  We need to talk about one difficulty that can hinder our journey along the Road of Abundant Living.  . . Unforgiveness.
Refusal or procrastination to forgive has the potential to keep us in chains, blocking the progress of true freedom.
I think of the commonly heard phrase, "forgive and forget."  Often, God is the only One who can completely forget our sins. .  . because He chooses to "remove them as far as the east is from the west."
It is often hard to forgive.  Is this the understatement of the year?  I don't mean to simplify the process here, because I, too, struggled for years with the concept of forgiveness in my own life.  But God tells us in His book, the Bible, to forgive those who have hurt us.  Why?  Because He wants us to have freedom and peace of mind.  When we don't forgive, we are continually bound to the one who hurt us.  
One common misconception is that forgiveness means to let the guilty party off the hook.  This is not a true statement.  Let me quote again from my Bible study, The View From Eternity:  "When we extend a pardon to others, we are very well aware of what they did, how they hurt us, yet we are taking them off of our "hook.  Then they will get on God's hook, which is a much more serious place to "hang out!"
Remember the 3 Ps of last week?  Engage them right now and ask God to help you start the forgiveness process.  It may take time, but God will help you reach your goal and find freedom.  He has done it for me!
"Forgiveness boils down to a trust issue with my heavenly Father.  Do I trust God's love enough to know that He will bring about His justice?  That He will eventually, in His time and way, defend His precious child?"  (The View From Eternity)
To forgive is not easy.  To make forgiveness possible for me cost my heavenly Father the life of His precious Son.  "But I believe we must set our minds to tackle the hard stuff of life and discover how to go about it."  (The View From Eternity)
If you are interested in further study and discussion of this critical topic, you may want to order The View From Eternity, a companion study I wrote to go along with my novel, The Rose Journal.

HOW ABOUT YOU?  If anyone wants to share a personal story of how they found freedom in forgiving, please comment on my "Meet Linda" page.
I look forward to continuing our journey next Wednesday!