Aug7Written by:BlogForLadies
8/7/2011 5:56 PM 
I am back again after taking a whole year’s break. That is a long time to be away, right? Well, am back now and It is my hope that I will be sharing more. In the past one year, I have started teaching Sunday school- a ministry that is so life changing. Seeing the beautiful children worship God while trying to understand Him, is breathtaking. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I went in thinking I would change them, but their unconditional love ended up changing me instead! Okay, before I begin sobbing, let me get straight to the point. Back to the shedding of the baggage and moving forward.
This Sunday, I was supposed to teach the kids about forgiveness and how important it was to let go of people that did us wrong. As I studied the Sunday school guide, I realized that I was in no position to teach about forgiveness because I have been hanging on to some unresolved issues for a whole nine years! I said an earnest prayer to God about how I was unable to teach the children about forgiveness yet I had not forgiven some people that had hurt me. That would be hypocrisy. I needed God’s help to overcome a burden I had been carrying around for nine years- almost quarter of my life!
The Lord in his goodness started to minister to my heart and reminded me who I was- His child. He gave me a deep insight into the lives of my forefathers- Abraham with the situation with Lot, Joseph with his brothers, when they sold him off into slavery in a foreign land, David running for his life when Saul wanted to kill him and Jesus when He hung on the cross after being beaten up, scorned and stripped naked. God told me in his love that I was one of his children, and that if the ones before me had managed to forgive despite the pain they had gone through, I was able to forgive too. Forgiveness is what sets his children apart from the world. God told me to shed off the baggage and start living my life, trusting Him alone and not looking back and living life full of pain and sadness because of what happened so many years ago.
I really like the analogy given in the Sunday school manual. It said that carrying around bitterness and anger is like carrying a heavy bucket full of rocks. Every day that you are consumed by these things is a day that is wasted. They day becomes really tough because you are slowed down by the emotions and you cannot reach your full potential. Put that baggage down and travel lightly. For me, it involved not only putting the baggage down but I also have to stop looking back at what happened and analyzing the situation and letting go of it completely as I let the Lord reveal my bright future right before my own eyes. I won’t lie that it is easy. There were several instances during the day when I was tempted to start analyzing but God kept reminding me that I was now free.
Has someone hurt you so badly you think your life will never be the same again? Ask Jesus to help you to forgive so you can start enjoying your life. Bitterness makes you the prisoner while the other person goes on with their life probably having forgotten he or she ever hurt you. Forgiveness, even though it clears the other person’s conscience is more beneficial to you the victim than the offender. It sets you free and releases you from the bondage of anger, bitterness and hurt that can keep you entangled for a whole life time.
Dear Lord Jesus, please help us to forgive those that have offended us. Help us to let go of past hurts and pain caused by others so we can live the abundant life promised to us. Remind us who we are in you so that we not get engrossed in the issues of this world. We crawl in defeat and surrender to you but you run to us with victory in your hands. We claim that victory, that healing and that power to rise above the pain, the sadness, the anger, the hurt and disappointment. Holy Spirit of God, please take control. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Be encouraged.
By Doreen Kemunto.