2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
As I continue to pray for my husband and for my family, I am faced with this question: could I really let go of all this past (currently present) if my husband truly repented and came to the Lord? As a daughter in Christ, just like God forgave me all my past, I have no choice but to forgive my husband. This is an amazing promise that we have from Jesus that once we accept Him in our heart, He completely blots out the past sins, and we become a New Creation. I am so grateful for this promise!
Nevertheless, it doesn`t make it any easier for me to think of my current circumstances and envision that one day things that I`m praying for would come to pass and my husband would repent, come to the Lord in his brokenness, my daughter would be raised in the truly Godly family, and we would be a family serving the Lord for the rest of our days. This sounds like fairy tale to me right now, but I know that God is Mighty enough to do all this and even more. The question that remains with me is: would I be capable to accept my husband`s repentance and see him as the New Creation in Christ just like God sees me and would see him? It`s excruciatingly painful for me to think about that especially because of all the raw pain that I have, but I am commanded by God to forgive and to transform the past- to make it transparent completely, dissolved with old sins. I have no right to refer to the past once it`s repented of because if God doesn`t see me in my dirty clothes, than how much more compelling should it be for me to appreciate everything that He`s done for me and my husband and treat the others the same way.
This is the highest calling that we can experience and produce in our lives: to forgive those who did us so much wrong, to love those who persecute us, hate us, humiliate us, ready and willing to take us apart. This is where the struggle with pride comes into play. I struggle with it on a daily basis, or on a days when I try to envision reconciliation, or any attractive woman that goes by and I think immediately about my husband and his potential response to that. This is where Satan is a master to lie to us and to keep our focus on our flesh killing what`s spiritual, what`s edifying.
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:5-7 NIV)
I battle that every day, and as long as I choose to think of what`s good, what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and I surrender my heart to God every day, it helps me to keep my focus and anchor on hope, love, faith, and knowledge of Who God really is. He promised us trials and tribulations in this world because Satan is in control of this world, but He conquered it already, and so long as we know it and wake up to live that victory out, it would help us to get through all these hardships.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)
In a way I am grateful for what I`m going through because I get to test the reality of God`s promises and His word firsthand. As soon as I start having doubts whether God would fight for my custody battle in the upcoming appeals, I pray to take my thoughts captive in obedience to Jesus, and I voluntarily surrender them to God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
The one main principle I learnt in these trials is I have a choice always as to what to do with my thoughts:
- I can either keep everything inside and bottle it down deeper and deeper until it would burst in a fight or some other manner
- I can take it out on someone/something whenever I get a chance to defuse my "fire"
- Or I CAN Bring it to the Lord`s feet and tell Him everything I feel regardless of whether it`s right or wrong; what is in my heart in that particular moment.
Once I started doing the THIRD CHOICE, things started to change for me in my thinking. I gained peace and deeper faith, my relationships with my Father became more personal because I don`t come to Him only when I mess up or need help, but I come to Him with all my feelings; I trust them to Him completely. He is my best Counsel in any circumstances, and He would use whatever means necessary to give you the Best Counsel He has in store for you just like He does with me.
If you have someone who repented and became New Creation in Christ, don`t turn them away by your attitude of seeing them as Old Creation because that`s not how God sees us. Our Father sent His only Son, Jesus, only so that those of us who truly believe in Jesus and His shed blood on the cross, would become New Creation and would have that chance to start afresh new life with our Lord. If I was given that chance, than there is all the more reasons for me to treasure those who hearken to Him just like I did.
As I continue to pray for my husband and for my family, I am faced with this question: could I really let go of all this past (currently present) if my husband truly repented and came to the Lord? As a daughter in Christ, just like God forgave me all my past, I have no choice but to forgive my husband. This is an amazing promise that we have from Jesus that once we accept Him in our heart, He completely blots out the past sins, and we become a New Creation. I am so grateful for this promise!
Nevertheless, it doesn`t make it any easier for me to think of my current circumstances and envision that one day things that I`m praying for would come to pass and my husband would repent, come to the Lord in his brokenness, my daughter would be raised in the truly Godly family, and we would be a family serving the Lord for the rest of our days. This sounds like fairy tale to me right now, but I know that God is Mighty enough to do all this and even more. The question that remains with me is: would I be capable to accept my husband`s repentance and see him as the New Creation in Christ just like God sees me and would see him? It`s excruciatingly painful for me to think about that especially because of all the raw pain that I have, but I am commanded by God to forgive and to transform the past- to make it transparent completely, dissolved with old sins. I have no right to refer to the past once it`s repented of because if God doesn`t see me in my dirty clothes, than how much more compelling should it be for me to appreciate everything that He`s done for me and my husband and treat the others the same way.
This is the highest calling that we can experience and produce in our lives: to forgive those who did us so much wrong, to love those who persecute us, hate us, humiliate us, ready and willing to take us apart. This is where the struggle with pride comes into play. I struggle with it on a daily basis, or on a days when I try to envision reconciliation, or any attractive woman that goes by and I think immediately about my husband and his potential response to that. This is where Satan is a master to lie to us and to keep our focus on our flesh killing what`s spiritual, what`s edifying.
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:5-7 NIV)
I battle that every day, and as long as I choose to think of what`s good, what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and I surrender my heart to God every day, it helps me to keep my focus and anchor on hope, love, faith, and knowledge of Who God really is. He promised us trials and tribulations in this world because Satan is in control of this world, but He conquered it already, and so long as we know it and wake up to live that victory out, it would help us to get through all these hardships.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)
In a way I am grateful for what I`m going through because I get to test the reality of God`s promises and His word firsthand. As soon as I start having doubts whether God would fight for my custody battle in the upcoming appeals, I pray to take my thoughts captive in obedience to Jesus, and I voluntarily surrender them to God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
The one main principle I learnt in these trials is I have a choice always as to what to do with my thoughts:
- I can either keep everything inside and bottle it down deeper and deeper until it would burst in a fight or some other manner
- I can take it out on someone/something whenever I get a chance to defuse my "fire"
- Or I CAN Bring it to the Lord`s feet and tell Him everything I feel regardless of whether it`s right or wrong; what is in my heart in that particular moment.
Once I started doing the THIRD CHOICE, things started to change for me in my thinking. I gained peace and deeper faith, my relationships with my Father became more personal because I don`t come to Him only when I mess up or need help, but I come to Him with all my feelings; I trust them to Him completely. He is my best Counsel in any circumstances, and He would use whatever means necessary to give you the Best Counsel He has in store for you just like He does with me.
If you have someone who repented and became New Creation in Christ, don`t turn them away by your attitude of seeing them as Old Creation because that`s not how God sees us. Our Father sent His only Son, Jesus, only so that those of us who truly believe in Jesus and His shed blood on the cross, would become New Creation and would have that chance to start afresh new life with our Lord. If I was given that chance, than there is all the more reasons for me to treasure those who hearken to Him just like I did.
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