Most recently, I hurt a good friend of mine. I won't go into the details, but I will openly admit that I was the one in the wrong. I learned the meaning of Ephesians 4:26 "In your anger do not sin." Well, I was angry and said some things to some people that I should not have. I approached the friend I hurt about it, admitted that I was at fault and asked her to please forgive me. She was and still is very angry with me, and I cannot blame her in the least. I hurt her, and I deserve her anger.
As I sat in church praying about this friendship today, our worship leader Heather told a story about her son when he was pretty young. He fell down while playing and badly scraped up his knee. He was then terrified to walk as he was scared he was going to fall down again or his knee would hurt when he walked. His parents gently told him over and over again that he just needed to get down, stand up and walk, and he would be okay. She compared this to our walk with Christ. Sometimes, we are going to fall down during life. We are going to get scraped up and it is going to hurt. We will have to pay for the consequence of falling- pain. But God is the ultimate pain reliever and if we trust Him he will help us through the pain. He is with us every step that we take, and will not leave us. EVER.
In my anger, I stumbled and I fell. I hurt one of the people that means the most to me in my life. I was praying about it last night and saying "God, I don't want to be in relationships with people if I am going to hurt them and they are just going to hurt me too." And I realized at church today that God is telling me to get down and walk. I am going to be okay, I just have to trust him and his love and healing. It is going to hurt, but that doesn't mean he won't be right by my side holding my hand and wiping away my tears. And I realized that I can trust him with this. He's got it, and I don't need to worry.
Does this mean that my relationship with my friend is fine now, or will be fine in the future? Absolutely not. I have no idea what the future will bring, we may stay friends we may not. We will have to learn to trust each other again. But I do know this- God is sovereign and will do what is best for the both of us in the long run. I know that he has forgiven me not only for this time that I have messed up, but for every time in the past, present and future and I have forgiven myself.
So here is my random thought of the day for you: Trust God in every moment. Don't get so wrapped up in where you are going that you don't pay attention to where you are at. He will walk with you every single step of your journey. Just trust him, and trust his mercy, love and forgiveness. He's got it!
