Prayer: Father, I surrender...

Father God,

I come before You with a heart that feels exhausted, overwhelmed, and heavy. God, it feels like depression is swallowing me whole, like the darkness is getting louder than the hope I am trying so hard to hold onto. You see the battles I do not have the words to explain. You see the tears I wipe away, the moments I feel numb, the thoughts that tell me I am too tired to keep going. You see every part of me, even the parts I feel ashamed of, and You do not turn away.

God, remind me that my feelings are real, but they are not the final truth. Depression may feel like a wave crashing over me, but You are the One who holds me when I cannot hold myself. When my mind tells me I am alone, remind me that Your presence has never left me. When my heart feels broken beyond repair, remind me that You are close to the brokenhearted and that You are still working in places I cannot see.

Father, I am tired of fighting battles that nobody else knows I am fighting. I am tired of pretending I am okay when I feel like I am falling apart inside. Please meet me in this moment. Give me strength for today, not just for tomorrow. Give me the courage to take the next breath, the next step, the next small moment. Help me stop measuring my worth by how productive I am, how strong I appear, or how well I can hide my pain. Remind me that I am Your beloved child before I am anything else.

Lord, Heal In Me What I Can't Even Name

Maybe there's so much going on inside that you can't separate one thing from another anymore. Old wounds mixed with new worries. Past trauma layered with present anxiety. Grief you thought you'd processed resurfacing. Pain you didn't know you were carrying until something triggered it.

And when someone asks, "What's wrong?" you don't know how to answer. Because it's not one thing. It's everything at once. A tangle of hurts you can't unravel, let alone name.

But what if you don't need to name it to bring it to God?

God hears every quiet prayer. But sometimes you don't even have words for a prayer, quiet or otherwise.

That's where Romans 8:26 comes in: "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered."

When you can't articulate what hurts, the Spirit can. When you don't have words for the tangle of pain, anxiety, and old wounds, God already knows. You don't need to diagnose your own brokenness before asking Him to heal it.

God sees what you can't see in yourself. He knows your heart better than you know it. He understands the unnamed pain, the accumulation of everything you're carrying, past and present, better than you ever could.

You don't need to separate the old trauma from the new anxiety. You don't need to identify which wound needs healing first.

You just need to bring all of it, the named and unnamed, the understood and mysterious, to the One who sees it all clearly.

Today, if you're carrying a tangle of pain you can't sort through, bring it to God anyway. You don't need words. He already knows.

Provided by "Faithful Grace"

God's Healing Hand

Some of the most beautiful things in life are not untouched. They have been broken. Weathered. Repaired. And lovingly restored. The same is often true of us. The wounds we carry may never completely disappear, but they no longer define us. Through God's grace, they become part of a larger story... a story of healing, perseverance, and faithfulness.

What once felt like a broken place can become a reminder of how far God has brought us. Not because the journey was easy. But because He never abandoned us in it. If you're walking through a difficult season today, don't lose heart. God is still at work, even in the places that feel fractured. His healing often creates something more beautiful than we could have imagined.

Provided by "Mindful Christianity"

Meme: I'm Glad Jesus Never Said...

Quote: Pastor Steven Furtick

An Unexpected Bloom

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break down,

And a time to build up;
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 (NKJV)

There’s a small orchid plant sitting snug in its base by our kitchen sink. My husband keeps pointing out the slow progress it’s made over these winter weeks. What started as five green buds tightly shut has transformed slowly, opening into a beautiful arrangement of white flowers with delicate pink centers.

I’ve watched this growth while struggling with crippling anxiety, battling against my mind as I grip tight to the Truth of God’s Word. These petals blossoming in the bleak winter remind me that like these little buds, I, too, am coming into something good.

When it comes to healing, it is often slow, even imperceptible. Yet we can watch and wait and notice the small changes.

In my healing journey, I’ve noticed a few things:

1. Healing takes time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 says: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; …”

Like the orchid coming into bloom, God often accomplishes His work on an organic, day-by-day timeline. Many times, we don’t even notice the changes until we observe that something is different - we have a little more energy, our thoughts seem a bit clearer, or we’re able to get more good work done without feeling overwhelmed.

2. Healing is not linear.

Psalm 147:3 tells us God “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. He will bring healing one way or another, but it is not always a continual upward trajectory. Decline and ascent, doubt and belief, worry and wisdom - duality weaves within the waiting, the living. If you feel down one day, this doesn’t erase the progress you’ve made.

3. Healing happens in ways we may not be expecting.

Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us our ways and God’s ways are not the same. Look at where God has brought you, look at His presence and hand in your life, and lean into it. Healing is happening, though the way it looks may surprise you.

Whatever your journey, here’s the core of it: Healing points to the Healer. Ultimately this is where our hearts land if we search for Him in the suffering and seek to dig to its root. God is our anchor, our sunlight, our reminder of what - or who - matters.

No matter what healing looks like, God is in the middle of it all.

Father, I am tired of this healing journey. Sometimes it feels like I’m not making any progress. Remind me that You are the Healer who brings growth and recovery in unexpected ways and that this is a process, not a one-time event. I’m trusting You for my healing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

- Sarah Freymuth
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

What No One Tells You About Healing

There’s a kind of silence no one talks about, the kind that comes after your mind breaks.

Not the peace of solitude. Not the hush of a quiet moment with God. But the silence that follows a collapse. The kind that changes how you think, feel, breathe.

I think about her sometimes. The girl I was before it happened. Before the anxiety unspooled like thread from my thoughts. Before the panic. Before the cracks in my memory. Before the grief rewired everything.

She knew how to tuck trauma away. As if it wasn’t waiting in the dark corners, growing and building, hiding just out of sight until one day it became too big to be contained and spilled out. And when it did, it broke everything.

People talk about healing like it’s a destination. Like if you do the right things and believe the right way, you’ll arrive at wholeness and move on.

But what no one tells you, not really, is that once your mind has shattered under the weight of it all, you don’t go back. You don’t return to the person you were before. And that’s a quiet kind of grief no one prepares you for.

There’s a version of me I sometimes miss. She was softer, more trusting, unaware of what the breaking would feel like. She could breathe without reminding herself to. She didn’t flinch at joy.

But I can’t go back for her. And maybe that’s okay.

God Walks Beside You

Some of the most important healing I have ever done happened in seasons where I could barely move forward. I thought I was failing. I thought I was too slow. I thought God was disappointed with me for not being the strong one.

But He didn’t rush me.

He met me in the middle of my shaking hands and tired bones. He walked beside me at the pace of my slow, trembling steps and called that progress. He whispered that every small breath, every tiny decision to keep going, every moment I chose Him instead of giving up was already a victory.

And maybe you need to hear that today. Maybe you are taking baby steps and calling them nothing. Maybe you are breathing through pain no one knows you carry. Maybe you are trying again after days where you felt like you were sinking.

God sees that as movement. God sees that as courage. God sees that as progress.

You don’t have to sprint for Him to stay. You don’t have to be unbroken for Him to love you. You don’t have to be healed for Him to call you His.

He will walk at the pace of your healing and never once shame you for the time it takes.

“He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber.” - Psalm 121:3

Provided by "Little Sparrow Loved"

God Is With You

You may not understand why the burdens press so hard or why the world seems louder than your prayers. Yet God sees every tear, He hears every sigh, and He is gently holding you in His presence. Let your mind rest on Him, not on the chaos around you, for He is your peace.

Do not measure your worth by what you accomplish or how others respond to you. God loves you simply because you are His. Bring Him your confusion and your doubts and let Him whisper truth into your heart. When you feel small and insignificant, remember that He is working through you in ways you cannot yet see.

Take a deep breath and feel His Spirit breathe life into your weary soul. God is your refuge, your comfort, your constant companion. When you feel alone, He is closer than your next heartbeat. Trust Him with the parts of yourself you are afraid to show. Let Him transform your fear into faith, your sorrow into hope, and your doubt into trust.

Rest in His love today. You do not need to rush to fix everything or make sense of all the pain. He is enough for every moment and He is enough for you. Walk slowly with Him, trusting that He is guiding your steps even when the path feels uncertain. Let your heart stay tender and open, for His presence is your true home.

Life has a way of wearing you down. The days are long and the nights can feel even longer when you lie awake wondering how things will ever change. Yet God’s presence is not measured by the brightness of your circumstances or the ease of your path. His nearness is not dependent on what you do or how much you accomplish. He is present in the ordinary, the mundane, the unnoticed moments. When you pour a cup of coffee, when you fold laundry, when you take a quiet walk outside, God is with you. When you feel invisible, when the world seems to pass by without notice, God is noticing. Every heartbeat, every breath, every tear is precious to Him.

You do not need to carry everything on your own. The world tells you to be strong, to hide your pain, to keep going no matter how heavy the weight feels. But God calls you to something different. He calls you to rest in Him. He calls you to come as you are, not as you think you should be. He calls you to trust Him with what you cannot fix and to surrender the parts of yourself that feel broken or unworthy. This is not weakness. It is courage. It takes courage to admit that you are not enough on your own to place your burdens in God’s hands and to allow Him to lead you through uncertainty.

God Never Wastes a Wound

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

There are seasons in life when the weight of pain feels almost unbearable. It might come through loss, betrayal, disappointment, or the quiet ache of waiting. Sometimes we try to hide our wounds, pretending they don’t exist. We smile, say we’re fine, and move on. But inside, something still hurts. The truth is, every wound has a story, and when we place that story in God’s hands, it can become something beautiful.

God never wastes a wound. He is not careless with your pain. He doesn’t allow suffering just to make you stronger or to test you for no reason. Every tear, every scar, every moment of struggle can become part of His greater plan for your life. What the enemy meant to break you, God can use to build you.

The prophet Jeremiah understood this deeply. He was called by God to speak truth to a nation that didn’t want to listen. He faced rejection, loneliness, and moments of deep despair. There were times Jeremiah felt forgotten by God, even angry with Him. But every time he cried out, God reminded him that his calling had purpose. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” That verse from Jeremiah 1:5 tells us something powerful. God knew Jeremiah before the pain ever came, and He had already planned how to use every part of Jeremiah’s story for His glory.

That’s true for you too. God saw your pain before it happened. He saw every sleepless night, every broken dream, every time you felt unseen. He doesn’t overlook those moments. He collects your tears and holds them close. Even when you don’t understand what He’s doing, He’s still working behind the scenes, shaping your heart and drawing you closer to Him.

Sometimes the place of your deepest pain becomes the place where you meet God most intimately. Pain strips away all the distractions and pride. It brings you to a point where you can finally say, “Lord, I can’t do this without You.” And that’s where healing begins. Jeremiah once said, “I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.” He was honest about his hurt. And God didn’t rebuke him for being honest. Instead, He strengthened him to keep walking.

You might not realize it now, but even in your hardest moments, God is near. He doesn’t pull away from brokenness; He leans into it. When your heart is raw and your words are messy, He listens. The same God who called Jeremiah to stand firm is standing beside you in your pain.

The Apostle Paul wrote something similar in 2 Corinthians 12:9. He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul wanted God to remove what he called his “thorn in the flesh.” But instead of taking it away, God transformed it into a reminder of His grace. That’s what He does for us too. Sometimes the wounds we beg Him to erase are the very things that keep us close to Him. They remind us we’re not self-sufficient. They remind us we need His strength every single day.

Healing, though, doesn’t happen overnight. God can heal instantly, but often He chooses to do it in stages. Just like a physical wound needs time to close, emotional and spiritual wounds need time to mend. In Jeremiah 30:17, God promises, “I will restore you to health and heal your wounds.” That’s not an empty promise. It’s a process of restoration. God isn’t just trying to patch you up. He’s reshaping your heart, renewing your faith, and preparing you for what’s next.

Maybe you’ve prayed for healing for a long time and it feels like nothing has changed. Don’t give up. Just because you don’t see progress doesn’t mean God isn’t working. Healing is happening in ways you can’t see yet. He’s teaching you patience, building your endurance, and showing you how to rely on Him when nothing makes sense.

Sometimes healing isn’t about forgetting the wound. It’s about learning to live with peace even when the memory still stings. It’s about knowing that your scars are not signs of weakness but reminders of where God has brought you from. You can look back and say, “I didn’t think I’d make it through that, but God was faithful.”

When Jesus rose from the grave, He still had His scars. Think about that for a moment. The Son of God, who conquered death itself, chose to keep the marks in His hands and side. He could have returned without them, but He didn’t. His scars told a story, the story of victory, love, and redemption. They were proof that He had suffered, but also proof that He had overcome.

Your scars can tell a story too. What once brought you pain can now bring someone else hope. The very thing that hurt you can become the thing God uses to comfort others. The compassion you show, the wisdom you carry, the faith you’ve built, it all comes from walking through seasons of pain with God by your side.

God never wastes a wound. Every part of your story matters. Even the chapters you wish you could erase are part of the testimony He’s writing. He doesn’t just heal you to make you whole again; He heals you so you can help heal others. He restores you so you can point back and say, “Look what God has done.”

Maybe you’re in a place today where the pain feels fresh. Maybe you can’t see how any good could come from it. Hold on. God is still writing your story. He’s not finished yet. What looks like an ending might actually be the beginning of something new. The wound you have now might become the very place where His glory shines the brightest.

So keep trusting Him. Keep showing up. Keep praying, even when the words don’t come easily. Healing may take time, but it will come. One day you’ll look back and realize that God was with you in every step, turning every hurt into something holy.

Because He really never wastes a wound. - Ellie Mont

Don't Let Fear Have The Final Say!

 

Today is heavy! So much wickedness surrounding us. Videos of people literally dying in front of our eyes. Fear trying to grip us. Hope vanishing slowly. Compassion evaporating. Hate becoming an epidemic. But the enemy won’t win. This isn’t a time for us to backdown. It’s time for us to rise up and PRAY! Our nation is hurting. Families grieving… but GOD! Our newsfeeds are full of sadness, anger and reality. But.. GOD!! God commands us to Love Him with all our hearts and souls and to love our neighbor. Tonight, rest in this And know in the middle of the pain, God’s Word leads us to HOPE and PEACE!

2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us that if we humble ourselves, if we pray, if we turn from our wicked ways, He will heal our land. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

Pray friends! PRAYER is where you stop babysitting demons and start evicting them!

Don’t let fear have the final say! - Author Unknown

How Can God Be Good If I Feel This Broken?

I know you’re in pain. I know it feels impossible to lift your eyes when your body aches, when your heart feels raw, when your soul feels like it’s on fire. I know what it is to beg God for healing and to wake up still hurting. I know what it is to wonder, “How can God be good if I feel this broken?”

The truth is, you don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be strong all the time. Loving Jesus in the middle of suffering doesn’t always look like joy or bold faith. Sometimes it looks like tears streaming down your face as you whisper, “I still need You.” Sometimes it’s just holding on by the edge of your fingernails. That, too, is love.

Jesus isn’t asking you to fake it. He isn’t asking you to put on a mask. He isn’t disappointed in your weakness. He knows. He felt the weight of agony, the sting of unanswered cries. On the cross, He Himself cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” He knows what it’s like to feel abandoned in the pain.

And yet, He stayed. He endured. Because His love for you was greater than His suffering.

So even now, when your body is tired and your soul feels scorched, His love holds you. His goodness isn’t proven by the absence of pain but by His refusal to leave you in it. He is closer than your own breath, even when you can’t sense Him.

If all you can do is breathe His name, that is enough. If all you can do is let your tears fall in His presence, that is worship. You don’t have to fix yourself to be loved by Him.

You are safe to fall apart in the arms of Jesus. And when you can’t take another step, He will carry you.

Because His goodness doesn’t change with your circumstances. His goodness is nailed into history by a cross and sealed forever by an empty tomb.

Even here, even now, you are not alone. 

- Ellie Mont

When God Comes To Heal What Hurts

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 147:3 (NIV)

It was such a small moment - insignificant to most. A little girl was spinning and dancing while her dad smiled and clapped. But as I watched her, a sob caught in my throat.

She was unapologetically herself and so free in her father’s delight. And something about it broke me.

In that moment, I realized I had once been that little girl. But somewhere along the way, I replaced freedom with striving and took on shame in the areas that once brought me joy.

I was surprised by the sadness that hit me, but I knew deep down this wasn’t just a tearful moment. It was an invitation to heal something that had long been hurting.

Maybe you’ve been carrying your own quiet grief.

You’ve learned to ignore it - all those times you believed something was wrong with you when you were left out. Or the pain of carrying a shattered heart that has left you broken. Or perhaps you’re weary of trying to be so faithful yet still feeling so invisible.

Then comes a moment - or a whole season - when you can no longer ignore what you’ve been tolerating. The pain surfaces in a new way. And suddenly, you sense God inviting you to look at it. But how do you even begin?

Oh, friend. You’re not alone. What I’m learning is that when the Lord asks us to step into a season of healing, it’s never to shame us but to restore us.

Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It’s His job to heal. Ours is simply to come. God is committed to restoring every part of us, even the quiet, hurting places in our souls. He is asking us to trust Him with our broken hearts and our wounds.

Healing isn’t always a one-time prayer or a single moment. It’s a continual walk with God, a process of bringing Him what hurts, letting Him replace lies with truth, and surrendering to His timeline, not ours.

Watching that little girl delight in who she was, fully at home in her father’s love, opened a window to the healing God was inviting me to experience. It moved me deeply because in that moment, I remembered that’s still how He sees me. And I realized just how much I missed that version of myself.

Friend, you and I are like that little girl. And our heavenly Father wants us to live in that same freedom.

God is not asking for us to give a better performance but for us to come into His presence. He invites us to walk bravely with Him and let Him do the healing, one step at a time.

Lord, I bring You the pain I’ve learned to tolerate, and I ask You to heal me. I have been hurting for a long time, but I know Your heart for me is always good. Help me take the next step toward You. You are my good Father, and I will keep running into Your safe arms. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Ashley Morgan Jackson
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

Bitterness

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God

and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness has a tenacious way of taking root deep within the soul and resisting all efforts to weed it out. Bitterness occurs for many reasons. It might come from deep hurts you received as a child, hurts you cannot forget. Time, rather than diminishing the hurt, only seems to sharpen the pain. Bitterness can result from the hurtful words of a friend or coworker. Often the person who hurt you is unaware of the extent of your bitterness. You find yourself rehearsing the offense over and over again, each time driving the root of bitterness deeper within your soul. Bitterness can derive from a sense of being unjustly treated.

Bitterness is easy to justify. You can get so used to a bitter heart that you are even comfortable with it, but it will destroy you. Only God is fully aware of its destructive potential. There is nothing so deeply imbedded in your heart that God's grace cannot reach down and remove it. No area in your life is so painful that God's grace cannot bring total healing. No offense committed against you is so heinous that God's love cannot enable you to forgive.

When you allow bitterness to grow in your life, you reject the grace of God that can free you. If you are honest before God, you will admit the bitterness and allow God to forgive you. Bitterness enslaves you, but God is prepared to remove your bitterness and replace it with His peace and joy.

- Excerpt from “Experiencing God Day-By-Day” by Henry and Richard Blackaby

Meme: It's OK To Fall Apart...

Do You Want To Heal From This?

“When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition
for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’”

John 5:6 (NIV)

A few years ago, I walked into an appointment with my counselor, Jim, wishing I’d canceled.

So much felt unsettled in my life. I felt utterly unmotivated to talk and overly motivated to cry.

“Lysa, do you have the desire to heal from this?” he asked.

Of course! But how could I possibly start healing when there was so much still unresolved in my life?

I thought those who did wrong things would realize they were wrong. And then surely they would say they were sorry and seek to make things right between us. Then I would consider forgiveness. And then I could possibly heal.

But as Jim kept talking, I started to realize I might never feel like things were fair. Even if the people who hurt me suddenly became repentant and owned all they’d done, that wouldn’t undo the past. That wouldn’t instantly heal me or make any of this feel right. Therefore, I had to separate my healing from their choices. My ability to heal cannot depend on anyone’s choices but my own.

It reminded me of something I learned during a trip to the Holy Land, when my guide taught about the two healing miracles Jesus performed in Jerusalem. The first was a healing at the pools of Bethesda.

In John 5, we read about a man who couldn’t walk. “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” (John 5:6). The man’s response was surprising. He gave Jesus an excuse based on the fact that no one would help him. Isn’t it amazing that the man was so focused on what others needed to do that he almost missed what Jesus could do?

Jesus instructed him to get up, pick up his mat and walk - and “at once the man was cured” (John 5:9). The healing didn’t involve anyone but the man and Jesus.

The other healing miracle is found in John 9 and focuses on a blind man. In this story, the disciples wanted to know whose actions caused the man’s blindness. Surely someone was at fault.

But Jesus said, “This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus then spat on the ground, mixed up some mud, rubbed it on the blind man’s eyes, and instructed him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Notice that Jesus didn’t make healing contingent on other people doing or owning anything.

Jesus gave the instruction. The blind man obeyed. Jesus healed. The man moved forward.

My guide in Jerusalem said, “One of these miracles shows us a new way to walk, and the other shows us a new way to see.” I couldn’t grab my journal to record this revelation fast enough.

Moving forward and seeing beyond our current darkness is between us and the Lord. We don’t need to wait for others to do anything. We must simply obey what God is asking of us right now. God has given us a new way to walk. And God has given us a new way to see.

My healing is my choice. And your healing? It’s with the utmost compassion that I say your healing is your choice too. I know how incredibly hard all of this is. But we can heal. We can forgive. We can trust God. And none of those beautiful realities can be held hostage by another person.

Lord, thank You for inviting me to see and walk in a new, healed way today. Forgiveness and healing may feel incredibly hard to choose, but I know You give me the strength to walk through these processes. Thank You for making me more like You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Lysa TerKeurst
Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"

Prayer: The Gift of God's Word

 

Meme: God's Got You!

 

From Bitterness to Forgiveness

 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

- John 15:5 (ESV)

Bitterness can’t withstand the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. That’s what God revealed after bringing me through the Rwandan genocide.

When I was only 6, my grandmother and uncle — who were taking care of me — were both killed by our neighbors when tribal unrest broke out in Rwanda. My whole life was shattered. The little faith I had was gone, and I often wondered why my life was spared in those months of horror.

A first glimpse of hope came into my life when I received my Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. At my orphanage, many children were displaced, so to have my own gift was special. Joy overwhelmed me, as I had toys to play with and a comb I kept for years, but the most profound impact was realizing someone around the world was thinking about me. That planted a seed of hope during a time when I felt lost.

A year later, God began revealing the miracles He’d done to save my life. I gave my life to the Lord and started abiding in Him daily, as Jesus instructs in John 15:5:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

The more I abided in God, the more He pruned away my bitterness. Abiding was the only way I could heal from such pain.

In my healing process, I prayed that I’d meet those who killed my family. While I wanted to face the people responsible for so much pain in my life, I also prayed God would give me strength to forgive. God diligently weeded out the bitterness in my heart, making room for His fruit of forgiveness.

In 2013, on a return trip to Rwanda, God answered my prayer. I visited the man responsible for killing my uncle, and by God’s grace, I shared that I forgave him.

What started with a shoebox gift led to my salvation, healing and ultimately miraculous forgiveness.

I’m not perfect at abiding in God. For a time, I was even angry at God for my pain — but in anger, I was blinded to the miracles God did to save me and glorify His name. I’m challenged to abide in Jesus daily because my healing process is ongoing.

We may never forget pain, but we don’t have to live bound to bitterness. I pray you take your next step toward forgiveness. Do you need to stop blaming Jesus for past hurts and instead accept Him as your Lord and Savior? Do you need to forgive someone or ask for forgiveness? Or you may live in peace, but you still need to share the gospel with someone. Whatever the case, may you abide in Jesus and allow Him to transform your heart.

God, thank You for forgiving our sins against You. Uproot bitterness in our hearts, and bear forgiveness in us as a fruit of Your Spirit. As You walk us through healing, help us abide in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

- Alex Nsengimana

Provided by "Proverbs 31 Ministries"