forgiveness Archives

Does God Forget?

I want to forget some things. But does God forget? Does God choose not to remember and if so, how does this help me heal? I once visited the ancient ruins of Olympia, Greece. The tour guide told me that in the entrance to the athletic stadium there were once pillars […]

Mental health Spiritual Formation Uncategorized

God is Compassion

It’s a broken world where we desperately need hope, but God is compassion, and so we get to live again. The other day I found some mouse droppings in my kitchen. Concerned about the hygiene of the kitchen, I set a trap. Peanut butter would be the temptation that […]

Faith & Mental Health

Is This Punishment from God?

I haven’t lived a perfect life, and I wonder if my problems are punishment from God, but maybe I don’t know the whole story and that God is overflowingly full of grace and mercy. They wanted retribution. Payback. A desire for revenge coursed through their veins for what had happened […]

Grief & Loss

Coping with Ambiguous Loss by Estrangement

I never saw it coming -the cataclysmic argument that triggered my adult son to estrange me three years ago. I might never see it end -the suffering of ambiguous loss of the relationship without closure. Coined by family therapist Pauline Boss, Ph.D., 40 years ago, ambiguous loss refers to unresolved […]

Faith & Mental Health

Absolute Responsibility Needs Absolute Forgiveness

Taking absolute responsibility for your actions can be overwhelming, but hope can be restored when absolute forgiveness is offered. I don’t like it, and I’m sure you don’t either. It’s when you’re confronted with something you have done wrong. You want to run; you want to hide. Perhaps you make excuses, blame […]

Relationships Uncategorized

Whatever you retain will be retained

We retain them. All the hurts and pains of life, but what if we could forgive and let them go? Perhaps then we could dance freely and lightly. It’s so easy to do. Holding on to the hurt others have done. The brain seems to retain it, keeping it and […]

Mental health Relationships

To Keep No Record of Wrongs

We pick them up. Little hurts, big hurts. But how do we learn not to keep a record of wrongs that clogs the arteries of our life? I visited a friend the other day, and they invited me into their home. As we wandered from room to room, everything was […]

Faith & Mental Health

Every Saint Has a Past Every Sinner Has a Future

Every Saint Has a Past. Every Sinner Has a Future. So what choices of forgiven acceptance are you making in the moment of the now? The source of the phrase ‘Every Saint Has a Past Every Sinner Has a Future’ comes from Oscar Wilde’s play A Woman of No Importance. […]

Mental health Spiritual Formation

Get Astounding Weight Loss and Peace at Being Forgiven

We need a weight loss program for the heart, but we can’t do it alone, so a vicar steps in and declares, ‘You are forgiven. Be at peace.’ I could feel a kind of weight leave my body. I had carried this tension and held this stress for so long […]

Relationships & Connection

True Repentance doesn’t Demand or Expect Forgiveness

To demand or expect forgiveness is like a chess player trying to manipulate the board, but that’s not true repentance. Instead, repentance submits itself to the poetry of waiting, praying, and hoping. They thought they could use the Bible to manipulate and control. Verses were hurled, and they were told, […]