Sometimes we go through situations with people that just leave us, well...
Broken.
Bruised.
Battered.
Carrying scars.
OH how in our flesh we want to just hurt them back. Inflict even just a small portion of the pain back to them that they've caused. ( I'm just being honest. Maybe too honest---but I believe in telling the real truth without masks.)
Yet, that is not what Christ calls us to do. He calls us to LOVE and to forgive. So many times that is HARD. Impossible without His love flowing through us.
Recently I felt this to the very core of my being. I did the right thing in regards to a broken relationship. It was also the HARD thing. Many times doing something "right" is far from easy. It can actually be excruciating and even cause great fear. No matter what the "emotions" are, the right thing is still right. God doesn't say His way is the easy way, but He does promise help to do it.
I did the right thing and it felt like it backfired. My heart was broken even more. Old wounds became raw again and the healing that had felt like had been taken place over the last several years just seemed to be thrown out the door. Satan was able to take that little door of doubt in my heart, was able to twist the truth, and dig the wounds deeper.
Until....
I told him to stop. I recognized what was happening in my own heart and refused to let it continue. I put that pain back under the blood of Christ and gave it BACK to Him. Letting it go. Releasing the forgiveness. Allowed Him to speak the truth back into my heart through His word and through others. I put into practice some skills I had been learning about replacing lies with truth by speaking specific verses.
It worked. It didn't immediately erase the hurt or change the fact that I wish certain situations were different. BUT....
The anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness melted away.
I was reminded that the right thing sometimes may end up feeling like the wrong thing because it hurts. Because it's not what our flesh wants. Because it may not be the normal way the world handle things.
But right is still right.
Right is always right.
Doing the right thing is what matters most. We need to never doubt that. Even when the circumstances around us make it feel like doing the right thing isn't worth it.
God redeems. God heals. God provides. God is just. God is full of mercy.
God also leans down and picks us up when we are wounded and battered. He wraps us up and holds us in the palm of His hands. Just like when a little one falls, they go running to mom for a kiss or a Band-Aid that magically heals on contact (or at least my kids thought they did---especially ones in their favorite characters!).
Keep on doing the right thing. Even when the right thing isn't the easiest thing. Even when it feels like it did no good and even when it feels like your heart ends up wounded.
God sees it.
He knows.
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