Okay Team, This is What We Need To Do:

Have you ever been falsely accused of something?

Ugh, it is the WORST! For me, it's particularly bad. I'm certain no one likes to be blamed for things they didn't do, but I have had a huge pet peeve my entire life of anyone even having the tiniest inkling that I might have said or done something which I didn't say or do. I always have to set the record straight. Once when I was 10 someone thought I said a bad word when I didn't. Then there was another time in high school when someone thought I called them by the wrong name, which I most certainly did not...they simply misheard me. I mean, there are many other much greater examples, but these dumb little things STILL bug me to this day. That's how bad it is. 

It is really awful when someone starts a rumor about you or does something to purposefully hurt you...especially when you haven't done a thing to provoke it. Like a false accusation, it just isn't fair! I have had MUCH experience in this area. I have been hurt by someone so deeply that they literally took my entire life as I knew it away from me. Stole it, right out from under me. Everything I knew that made me feel safe...my home, my family, my babies...taken from me.  I was powerless to stop it no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, I tried. I had what I thought was a beautiful life, and it was literally gone over night.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

I appealed to God so many times. For three years... every day, for hours each day, I was on my knees and in the Word. I thought for sure I knew how the "happy ending" of my story should play out. But it didn't. 

Surely God couldn't let this happen! But he did.

It wasn't fair. And so many things that happened to me in the days and months to follow just weren't fair. 

"How much more salt can be poured into this wound?!"

I was down, and then I was proverbially kicked, beaten, and spat upon. 

What was left of me wasn't even broken pieces... I was a pile of ash on the ground. 

When you are in a season of deep grief and mourning, there are days you wake up in the morning and it takes you just a few moments to realize that your life isn't actually a horrible nightmare you've just awoken from...it's real. And you have to face that reality every single day until, over time, the sting from that painful reality begins to fade. 

Even with a strong faith and an unbelievable sense of peace that God gave me throughout this season, it took a very long time for that sting to only hurt every once in a while instead of repeating multiple times a day. Truth be told, it still hurts from time to time.

So.

What did God instruct me to do with this terrible situation that I inherited?

How was I to handle this horrible thing that I did not ask for? (As if we would ever ask for a horrible thing!)

This is precisely what he told me:

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:17-21

I could write a book on my experience and the things God taught me through it, but I don't believe that the time is right for that. To be honest, I fear hurting people just by telling the truth. I care very deeply for so many who were close to our family and affected by my situation. On one hand, I want to SHOUT from the rooftops all of the things God did for me during this season because he was incredible and so very gracious to me! On the other hand, I want to seek peace and I have chosen to forgive everything that has been done to me...and drudging it back up at this point just doesn't feel right. 

So for now, you're just going to have to trust me when I say...what was done to me was awful...some would say unforgivable...but God told me to forgive.

What was done to me should be avenged. But God told me not to avenge.

What was done to me deserves shouting from the rooftops. But God has told me to seek peace with everyone.

What was done to me deserves recompense from the one who hurt me. But God promises He will repay me. 

In other words...God is handling it. It's not my job. My job is to love and forgive. 

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21-22

This is not something I can do in my own strength but something God gives me the strength to do daily. Jesus went on to tell a remarkable parable that I draw a massive amount of encouragement from any time my mind and my heart start to wander off the path and into feelings of anger for what was done to me. If you are needing to forgive someone today, and you just don't know how, I hope that you will be encouraged by this, too. It goes a little something like this...

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his 

servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was 

brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his 

children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 

At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.'

But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 

Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your bother or sister from your heart.

You see, it doesn't matter what amount of sin was committed against me...I'm a sinner, too. I am in just as much of a need of forgiveness as anyone. When I sin, I sin against God and he forgives me every single time. Every. Single. Time. Likewise, I need to forgive others when they sin against me. Otherwise, I am no better than the servant who was forgiven and didn't forgive. 

God doesn't ask us to do anything he wouldn't do himself. I was proverbially hurt, but when Jesus was literally kicked, beaten and spat upon, he did not fight back. And as he hung on a cross, he forgave the ones who were killing him. Not the week after. Not a few years after some of the emotional pain had subsided...he forgave them WHILE they were killing him. 

And WHILE we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Friends, I know a little something about forgiveness because I've been forgiven. And I know a little something about forgiveness, because I've been called to forgive a huge wrong. So I am challenging every single person reading this today because our country and our world so desperately needs it.

We need to STOP this foolishness...this tit for tat on social media...who can "out meme" the next guy...and take a good look in the mirror. We need to forgive each other. We need to seek to live in peace. We need a huge ego check...all of us. Why don't we stop for ONE second and consider not what we want, but what God wants for us? I would be the biggest idiot on the planet if I walked through the hell and back that I did and did not learn from it that God's way is ALWAYS the best way!!!

Some of us are feeling some things are "unfair" today in the political climate. Well guess what? Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. Is God in any less control? Nope. Does God sometimes allow unfair things to happen?

Hmm, let me check - YES! I am living proof of that!

But guess what I also know? His plans are good. They are for our good. He can even take what was intended for evil and use it for good.

While I walked through fire, it sure hurt like hell. And now I am stronger, better, closer to God, and perfectly happy with where I am in life. He made beauty from my ashes. He brought such blessing and joy into my life in new ways, I didn't even know what I was missing out on before. God always has a plan, and his plan is always the best. 

Knowing that, let's take his advice. 

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21

If I can do it, you can do it. And if Jesus can do it, we can too. After all, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Where do you draw your strength from? There is no greater strength than the strength of God, and there is no greater love than the love He has for us. 

Let's get out there and do some loving and forgiving, lest we become like the unforgiving servant. God gets the last say...let's make sure we're honoring Him above all else.