Blown Away

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us, (Psalm 103:12).

This scripture reminds us of God’s great power and his great mercy and his loving compassion for us. But can we imitate Him in this (as in Mat 6:15)? We are not God, we cannot separate others from their sins even as far as the length of our noses.  Maybe what this means is that we can try to look at others (who have wronged us) as if they had never sinned. What will happen if we treat them that way? Have you ever experienced such forgiveness and were you blow away?   I have and I was blow away -as far as the east is from the west.

Welcome To Somewhere

Welcome, bienvenue, bienvenido,  έkâbo to a good place, a bad place, to bondage or to freedom and to the rest of your life! 
That's what the sign should have said but it just said, “Welcome to Houston!” I never left again except for short visits and vacations elsewhere. I was twenty four years old on arrival but now my age has more than doubled. I have now been married  for over half of my life and have been blessed with two children who are themselves now married. But what did it all mean? The character in 'Saving Private Ryan,' put it this way: "Have I been a good man?" It's truly been  a mixed bag experience but I can now say confidently that all the bad things I've done have been forgiven. At least by God. He's given me a lasting grace even through today and in this I find great peace. I've always wished for this kind of peace and now I have it.

Maybe now it’s your turn to go somewhere where a welcome sign will greet you. If it's here you've come, then Welcome to Houston!

Reconciling Love in Marriage

You hurt your spouse deeply by (________________) fill in the blank or you hurt each other. Is this the end of the marriage or is there hope? Yes, there is hope because God can fix it if you are humble enough and honest enough. The first step is to stop the behavior. The next step is to face reality and honestly admit to yourself and to God your part in whatever hurting thing that took place. After this breakthrough you will need to have strong faith because now you must forgive your spouse's part in whatever happened between you.  

You must say the words, "I forgive you!" Then begin treating him or her as if they had never sinned against you. I’m not talking about being in denial nor about simply forgetting what happened. I’m talking about what I call active forgiveness. The making of a firm decision to treat your spouse as innocent of wrongdoing, the granting of a full pardon to your spouse. Keep repeating this active form of forgiveness every day until the hurt you feel is gone from your hearts. This could take awhile, but don’t quit  just minutes before this miracle happens for you.

Part of the healing process you’ll experience is the softening of your hearts which allows the stirrings of love to begin again or should I say to begin anew. This will be a beautiful and a divine thing. Then you will experience and understand what God meant in  
1 Peter 4:8  where he says, “Love covers over a multitude of sins." 

Finally, learn to love God’s way as in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. In this passage God gives us an amazing blueprint for how to love your spouse. Own this passage of the bible. Substitute your name in all of the place where the words, 'love' and 'it' appear then imitate those actions. 

It is my hope and my prayer that God will bless your marriage with the incredible reconciliation that he has blessed mine with. God then went a step further with us to more than just restore our relationship. God gave us an even better relationship and a greater love than we had ever experienced or had before and for this we will forever be grateful.