we had a wedding just a few weeks ago.
wedding number 3 in 9 1/2 months. all my three daughters got married it felt like almost at the same time...
this last one was a "destination" wedding in France.. everyone got together for a weekend to celebrate my daughter and her husband..
what a glorious occasion it was ... beautiful all around..
for broken and divorced families a weekend long wedding potentially could mean some awkward moments..
I am thankful that in our family we made it through this more prolonged time together just fine.
forgiveness and love extended to everyone involved, not easy at first maybe, when motivated by forgiveness received from God, so much easier, and so much more what He desires for us..
for the sake of those, the children, that are caught in the middle without any fault of their own everyone made every effort to be kind and loving with one another.
Thankful that I am not pretending, I do not hold anything against anyone, I still, preparing for this event, like I said, event number 3 in a relatively short time, was observing and discerning all that was going on in my heart and any other layers of these rather complicated ( maybe more and more common, but that doesn't make it easier for those that have had to endure what this means ) circumstances, noticed something.
I really think God, who I am always asking for wisdom and the ability, grace and strength to be who He intends for me to be, revealed this to me and after mulling it around in my head for a few weeks now I want to share this with you.
any brokenness, usually a result of some kind of sin inflicted, leaves our hearts shattered and I believe that only God, the creator of our hearts can put it back together again.
I believe also that when we are obedient to Him and deal with those situations in a godly way, like extending forgiveness as mentioned before, He is indeed faithful to do what He came for :
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
the healing that He brings is such a gift and I have been so thankful that because of it I don't need to inflict any hurt on others by being bitter or angry about old offenses...
but, and God gave me a new picture for this .. when we give God all the broken pieces, when we trust Him to take care of us and really let Him have His way in our souls, down to the deepest crevice... when He does what He does so very well, it seems that some of the jagged, sharp edges of some of those pieces can still stick out and cut us sometimes....
those would be the consequences the Bible talks about, for every sin there are always consequences, and with some we do have to live for the rest of our lives..
some things surrounding the weddings of my daughters have been tainted and have been hurtful because we are not a family anymore. and don't get me wrong, everyone has moved on and we are good.... but talk about highlighting this brokenness and bringing it to the forefront... it for sure happens, and it might happen again...
as far as it depends on me, I will, not in my own strength but in the strength of the Lord, be patient, kind, not angry, not bitter, not boastful, or rude.. I will love with the love that my Jesus has shown me, unconditional and not expecting anything in return...
getting my heart filled with His love whenever I seek Him out, and He is always right there, my heart overflows and love can flow freely to anyone He places in my sphere of influence...
when those cuts happen it might be a little harder for a moment, but I can ask for healing and wisdom right there and then and I do not need to act on what my feelings might want to tell me, rather I take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ - bring them in line with what it means to love like Christ and all is well...
what a blessing it was to celebrate these two young people that by getting married made known to everyone around that what has happened in their families has not scared them, they are full of hope and good will to have a marriage ( and God willing a family ) that will last.
my experiences have taught me that we need the help of God who came up with marriage in the first place, to make this work, so my prayer is that all my 3 daughters and their husbands will learn how to consider others ( namely their spouses ) as more important than themselves, that they would learn to love and forgive and build a strong foundation for a lifelong commitment kept.
I am thankful for the cuts, reminders that all we do has consequences, good ones for good choices and hurtful ones for the choices that are not in line with God's perfect plan for our lives.
He is the author and perfecter of our faith and He is our manufacturer.... He made us and knows what we need and therefore.. we should read the manual and stick to it...
I just love Him!
