Joy: 37-Day DevotionalSample

It was in the evening; I was about seventeen years old when my dad was caught in a compromising way with a woman who attended our church. I was the one who confronted my dad along with the woman and her husband. My role had been far more adult than it should have been. My mother was weak, and I felt the weight of both of their behaviors that were unbecoming as parents. I did what no child should have to do and fought the battles that were never meant to be mine. My innocence was gone as I was trying to hold together a broken family; therefore, trust and security were foreign to me. 

It would be many years before I was able to allow God to heal those wounds and show me how to forgive totally. I had to come to a place with Him to be able to have compassion for my parents. God revealed to me how I had to release my brokenness for a home lost, love I never felt, and my parents’ inability to provide a secure home. I had to release the pain they would never understand, the apology I would never receive, and the failed love of what should have come from a stable home. The act of forgiveness was not easy because it meant that I had to let go of what was familiar to me and the expectation of any possibility that it would be made right. I had to give myself completely to God. It was an act of letting go of my wounds and trusting Him for healing. Forgiveness was freedom from the past and release to the future ahead. I cannot explain the joy that began to fill my heart. By forgiving, it allows us to extend love and be able to live at peace with our wrongdoers. It doesn’t say what they did was right; however, it does allow us to let go so that our relationships with God becomes what it should be. 

Father, help us to trust You and understand the joy of living at peace with others.