January #jammed : Grace in Life’s Face
Day 8: How Forgiveness Disciplines.
Forgiveness has the power to discipline.
On any given day a drive past my house will lend the scene of my kids running laps around the yard or picking up puppy bombs for mouthing off …or filling my phone memory with stupid cartoon pictures ..or just bothering me. They suffer groundings, get things taken away,and are privy to a lot of lectures from their long winded momma. But on occasion I simply forgive …sometimes even apologize. (and the facial expression are priceless.)
In Old Testament times, sin’s prevalence required animal sacrifices and rituals to be right with God. They could not be in God’s presence because of it. In the New Testament, and on to the present, those efforts are replaced with repentance and forgiveness.
Even though He was an Old Testament prophet, Hosea’s name means, “salvation.” His very existence testified to Christ’s coming, over 700 years before He was born in Bethlehem. That babe grew up to crush sin on the cross and restore God’s people to Him. God’s great grace found a new way. He doesn’t make me run laps after I ask for His forgiveness, so every once in a while …I choose to let it go. And my kids may just think I’m nuts now, but maybe some day they’ll pay it forward.
Our Father brought is into His “good grace,” through forgiveness. Balm that can soothe relationships with our children, spouses, friends, and ourselves.
Father, Praise you for your patience! Thank you for the rich lessons in Your Living Word. Help us to grow in prayer and study of Your Word daily, so that we may know when the time to extend Your forgiveness to others is upon us. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Ever had to apologize to your child for overreacting? I have! Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace!
#greatgrace17
Happy Shock-facing,
Megs
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It’s really hard as a parent to apologize for overreacting…. but you have taught me too!! I think it’s important for our children to know that even we can’t be perfect all the time, even mommy and daddy’s can have bad days and overreact!
(I just had to apologize to my sweet 9 yr old this morning for overreacting –as my 2 yr old was barfing all over my new shag rug)
Love you, and BLESS you meg for being such a blessing In my crazy life
No!!! Not the rug!!!! I hope she is feeling better, and thank you so much for your sweet comments. Our kids look to us to see how to act …when they see us look to Jesus -the hope is that they will, too. ❤