Understanding...and Forgiveness

Ah yes, that beautifully frustrating word. Understanding.
Do you understand? is a phrase often used when asking someone if something was clearly explained. It is used when one person is trying to get a point across. It is asked when a friend tells you that you can't be friends. It's asked in many different circumstances, many different ways and the result varies. But almost always, you walk away with a sense of "understand," whether you actually do or not.

How is one supposed to understand when a friend tells you that you can't be as close as you once were? How are you supposed to forgive them and understand that that is what God wanted? When do you make the distinction between being able to be understanding and just not caring anymore about it? How do you try to comprehend, to understand, what your mind is focused on when the only thing you want is it to go away?!

The Father calls us to forgive those who have hurt us, to love those who don't understand His love, and to be Him to all people, everywhere. The world is here, telling us not to be understanding. Not to give grace. But to hold onto the bitterness, the anger, the confusion. To live in blind rage. But our Jesus, our precious Savior, has loved us so much that He wants us to express that to those around us.

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

It's not being understanding. It's understanding the pain, the brokeness, the hurt. Recognizing it, beginning the healing process and coming out stronger.
Sadly, though, some of the hurt and pain can change the person that you are. It can alter the way you think, the way you process things, the way you look at yourself. And even if you know that all the things that you are believing are lies, you still don't want to let it go.
but that is where God's truth can speak to us the most. I was talking to Him yesterday and He spoke to me about trust.

Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understand; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

So first, we have to trust Him. Trust that His plan is better than our own plan, and He will prosper us.

In Jeremiah 29:11, it says "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Then in Numbers 23:19, it says "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"

Therefore, God wants us to know He has the best plans for us. And He also says that He fulfills the promises that he has spoken to us, that he has given us. And with that we know that He is good to His promise. So trust Him. Trust that what he has done in your life, fits perfectly into what He has next for you.

Now the question is, will you trust Him?