Thursday, November 18, 2010

Forgiveness, Relationships, and Thankfulness

November is one of my favorite months of the year. It reminds me of the importance of being thankful for my friends, for my family, for a home, for those I've been privileged to meet, and the importance of having the Lord in my life. 

For the next few days, we'll be hearing from LoRee Peery, who has graciously accepted our request to share with us how she perceives not just the month of November but those two wonderful concepts that we hear about during this time of year: thankfulness and forgiveness. 

Forgiveness, Relationships, and Thankfulness
By LoRee Peery


When Shirley invited me to blog this week, she suggested I talk about forgiveness and thankfulness. I immediately thought how relationships are tied to that topic. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, how can we appreciate the impact of forgiveness and being thankful?

One of my problems as a writer is that I find so much to say, it’s difficult to focus and stick to simplicity of topic. My mind was flooded with verses when I opened my Bible for applicable words. When I’m on a search such as this, I get lost in His beautiful promises, assurances, and blessings.

Forgive, relation, thankful.

Wow. I’m humbled anew to realize my inadequacy. Yet, my Lord sees me as righteous. See? I went off subject.

A reader commented after reading Moselle’s Insurance. “One thing I love about your story,” she said, “is the theme of forgiveness.” To celebrate God’s forgiveness and second chances, Moselle and Eric get married over the Thanksgiving holiday. That scene comes out in the second and upcoming Frivolities book, Rainn on My Parade.
The number one thing I’m thankful for, and strive to reveal through my characters, is the undeserved forgiveness I’ve been granted by my Lord.

Over the years I’ve fought depression a time or ten. During those times, I’ve listed things I’m thankful for. It doesn’t take long into the list before I discover God has pulled me out of the dumps. Many of those blessings listed are the people, family, and friends who are part of my life.


He is so good! His grace covers all my shortcomings, as well as those of the people surrounding me. Thank You, Jesus!

I am so thankful to have a new relationship this holiday season. And, oh my, forgiveness plays a big part in this true-life story. November 2, I opened a letter from a cousin I had never known. His birthmother was my father’s sister. God has unfolded this story, this new relationship, at His given time.

Romans 8:1 tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Jesus poured out redemptive love while He hung on the cross – enough to cover the sins of the world. He forgave me much. I should be able to forgive others.

We are meant to work with others, and according to 1 Corinthians 12:14-27, each of us has a spiritual gift to enhance our working together. God is sufficient. He supplies all we need to fulfill His will and His work. He works in us individually, and through our relationships. We can’t push His work. He does it in His own time. Can we work, either alone or with others, effectively if we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts?

I can look at my life, the past and the present, and I know He holds my future; and see His hand in every aspect. He never lets go. And something else about Jesus, He commands us to love one another (John 15:12). Pretty hard to do without forgiveness involved.

The blessing of forgiveness transforms into harmonious, loving, prayerful, thankful relationships. That’s the kind of life that brings glory to God.



In Jesus, I have peace. My belief in forgiveness doesn’t mean I dance around with no cares in the world. I get stressed over what life dishes out with the rest of humanity. But deep down, my faith colors my world with the peace of His love. His love involves others, He colored their world too! Be thankful we’re not in this alone. Whatever we’re mixed-up in, we’re in it with someone else.

Not one of us is perfect, we mess up. I need to remind myself that Jesus died for others in the same way He took my sins to the cross.

Exhibition of life is grace personified. Sometimes it’s hard not to speak “Christianeze” —you know, those little expressions we get so used to saying. None of it is cliché to true believers. We cherish those ways of saying our thankfulness for the forgiveness granted when a sinner repents and a new life in Christ begins.

God’s timing plays into every aspect of our lives. I firmly believe that had I not put forgiveness into active practice in a close relationship, and dwelt on thankfulness rather than a circumstance, I would not be a published author.

I hope you don’t feel “preached to.” I wish you all the ability to ask for, receive, and grant forgiveness; and joy beyond measure as you reflect and fellowship. We are not in this world alone. Our world is filled with relationships. And relationships are a picture of forgiveness and thankfulness. Blessings to you as you celebrate THANKSGIVING with your friends, family, and loved ones.
Reflection Question for you

This is not the place to confess, but if a person in your life came to mind as you were reading, would you please pray about that individual and your situation? We are in the season of being thankful for our blessings, which includes the blessing of relationships, often based on forgiveness.

copyright 2010 LoRee Peery
author of Moselle's Insurance
 
Graphics by Julia Bettencourt
 
 Be Blessed This Thanksgiving from all of us at A Pen for Your Thoughts.
We would love to hear your thoughts this week too.
Congratulations to Melissa Marsh of Lincoln Nebraska. You have just won an ebook from LoRee. I hope you enjoy it as much as we appreciated having you here.

18 comments:

  1. Hope you have an awesome week!
    Blessings,
    andrea

    ReplyDelete
  2. And thank you from both of us for the kind words, Andrea and Marianne. Be blessed this week.
    Shirley

    ReplyDelete
  3. First, I thank Shirley for graciously inviting me to express my thoughts.
    Andrea, the hand of God has been awesome this week.
    Marianne, bless you for stopping by, you are loyal to fellow authors.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad to see you here. Thank you both for sharing your insights.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wonderful post! Great words of wisdom, LoRee.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lisa, glad you stopped by.
    Thanks, Delia; just speaking from the heart.
    Now that it's Friday night in Nebraska, it is officially Thanksgiving weekend. I wish all those who visit blessings and time for reflection.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very nicely written LoRee. The words are so true and they did give me a relationship or two to give some thought and prayer to. You are right...it will help, it just sometimes takes a nudge to make one realize they need to do something as simple as prayer to help heal the relationship. Way to easy to get caught up in the everyday rush and hold on to negative feelings for too long. Thankyou

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dearest anonymous, you are so welcome. My prayer of healing is with you. The song, "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" just came to mind. When we look Him full in the face, the petty grievances of earth do indeed grow dim. In Him, LoRee

    ReplyDelete
  9. LoRee, this is beautiful. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great thoughts! martha(at)lclink(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you, Melissa. Beautiful blessings wished back at you.
    Martha, thank you for reading those thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A beautiful post, LoRee! And such a great story about meeting your cousin. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Missy, thank you for stopping. My cousin and I hope to meet in person this coming weekend. It really is a true life story with lots of drama.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've been thinking about all this that you wrote. It's a time of year we should all be thinking about what this time of year means. It sure does make me think about the ones I love.
    janice

    ReplyDelete
  15. Janice, I'm glad you've received some food for thought. We all need to be thankful for our loved ones. Life is fleeting, and way too short not to live in harmony.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great post Mom! Hmmm, did you have me and a certain someone in mind when speaking about forgiveness?! I will take your advice, and pray for him!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dearest Daughter, If a voice spoke to you while reading, it is of the Lord rather than me! Thanks for reading some more of your mother's words.

    ReplyDelete