Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16
My heart jolted as I heard the voice on the other end of the phone. Wasn’t this a girl from college I had shunned, asking me to come to a celebration as a former homecoming queen? Wasn’t she the one who had an abortion?
In college my Christianity looked and felt more like a Pharisee. I lived by the rules and had little compassion for anyone who failed or made mistakes. Over the years God showed me my good works didn’t save me. My sinful pride created a lack of love and mercy with others. As I listened to her voice, I sensed God wanted me to mend this broken relationship and accepted the invitation with excitement and dread.
Weeks before the event, I prepared my heart through prayer. During the celebration I found this woman and sat down next to her. My heart beat nervously as I confessed my judgmental heart towards her and asked for forgiveness. This former classmate shared how she had felt hurt and judged by Christians during those difficult college years. I wept thinking I was one who had heaped judgment on her. God brought healing in both of our hearts that day. My friend and I felt a new freedom of love and peace in our relationship.
God doesn’t place a time limit on forgiveness. Do you have a relationship that needs healing? How would you prepare your heart? How could you offer grace? How would your heart be healed?
Isaiah 53:5 says, “by His wounds we are healed.”
Lord, You have made a way to bring healing to our hearts, minds, and bodies. You took my sin away by Your death so that I could be healed. Show me if there is someone today I can offer healing to by asking for forgiveness. Or show me if I need to forgive someone who has wronged me. Let my prayer be powerful and effective.
by Lynne S. Head
Lynne Head Bio
Lynne Head has a private counseling practice in Charlotte, North Carolina and counsels with her mission, World Team. She was a pastor’s wife for seven years and then served church planting in the suburbs of Paris from 1997-2002. Lynne is a mother of two adult daughters, a son in heaven, and grandmother of six. She enjoys exercise, writing, gluten-free baking, and doing life with her husband, Jim of 30 years.
FURTHER READING
Feelings, Forgiveness and Peace | by Dr. Muriel Larson
The Power of Forgiveness | by Dr. Henry Brandt
How to Experience God’s Love and Forgiveness (3 parts)
Freedom of Forgiveness | by Katherine Kehler
The church is full of sinners. Some sins are well known and others are hidden, but God knows the hearts of each one of us,
Have You Forgiven Yourself | by Katherine Kehler
God Forgave our Sins, Past, Present and Future | by Katherine Kehler
“He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Psalm 103: 12. Do you ever think that you have sinned so much that God can’t forgive you?
Forgiveness is Good for Your Health | by Katherine Kehler
I recently read a book review of Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness. After five years of research, the authors found that people…