forgiveness

I have been struggling with the thought of forgiveness lately. There are so many depths to this that I find that I can become quite confused and completely consumed if I take my eyes of the focus.

My question was: can you forgive in the present if you do not know the full extent of the past?

I have some things in my past that have "haunted" me. Over time, to no avail, I have no concrete knowledge of the exact happenings but I do have the overwhelming emotions that linger. So thus, my question.

I have an answer and it covers ALL FORGIVENESS, no matter how catastrophic or how minute. The answer is found in: 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 2-5

2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

I may not have a clear vision of all I need to forgive but I most definitely have a concrete answer as to if I can or if I am supposed to... search these verses, there is more than one sole answer - there is a virtual "how to" in it also.

So, forgiveness does require much, in these words I find much for me to do in obedience and in faith to what God says is my responsibility is in the process of forgiveness and judgement..

required faith

well, I have been thinking a lot about forgiveness and how God has taught me about it so far. Lately I have come to see that there are different seasons to forgiveness. Maybe, different levels that we are ready or willing to forgive at one given time. Not that WE pick and choose but, our issues or situations that God brings to us.

Thankfully God is so full of love and grace He steadily stretches us and molds us instead of laying it on us all at once, although sometimes it might feel as though we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.

Luckily, God has brought me along like a preschooler, very deliberate, repetitious and holding my hand in much of my required healing and forgiveness. He just knows each of his children so well and leads exactly the way we need.

The thought of required faith came from my own self-evaluation. We all go through seasons and that's OK but lately, I have just checked out. I saw it coming, knew I had a choice but still I went into a hibernation of sorts. I don't see it as all good or all bad because I have had some of both results. However, my point is this, before, during, now and forever will be: I knew that God was saying "be faithful to me." "Believe in me", "trust in me", "know that I will prevail in you" are the only things I could hear. He held my hand as I drew back: scared, full of questions, some doubt and unable to sort any of it out myself.

Now, as I began to come out of it a little, I see that he was asking me to be patient and my saving grace... required faith that no matter where I went, He would come for me.

I found that God really does pursue his beloved, relentlessly and gently.