Keeping it real today. Mainly that I live in a real world and that bad things sometimes happen in the real world. Today my blog post was inspired by one of those bad things.

For my birthday this year, my husband bought me a brand new car. Today I took it in to get the windows tinted and found that during it’s time at the shop, somebody dinged my car door. Not a little ding either. Quite noticeable.

So what did I do after the initial disappointment and the wee bit of anger, I forgave. I yielded to love and forgave the person responsible and the people at the shop.

The shop said they would pay for repairs and to repaint the whole door. And I get a free loaner.

Sounds like everything they should do, right? Sounds like what I should expect. So what difference does it make whether I forgave or not?

First, the most obvious reason. I was created by Love Himself and my body, my soul, my mind were never created to carry around unforgiveness. Almost every day I minister to people who are sick in their bodies as a result of unforgiveness. (For more on this try reading Dr. Don Colbert’s book, Deadly Emotions).

I like what one minister said about unforgiveness. He said, “Unforgiveness is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die”. That’s real! Real serious!

Second, faith works by love. Unforgiveness is not love. I don’t need unforgiveness neutralizing my faith. (Galatians 5:6, Mark 11:22-25)

The third reason, God spoke into my heart just a few moments ago. It brought a smile to my face.

Have you ever had anyone ask you to pray prior to their surgery, that God would guide the hands of the doctors? The Lord spoke to my heart, “When you yield to love and forgive, you make way for Me to get involved in your situation.”

I suddenly saw it. God is going to guide the hands and the work that is done on my car, because I made a way for Him to get involved in this situation.

I was a little concerned my car wouldn’t be the same or as good as new after the repairs, but now I fully expect it to look even better than before, because my Heavenly Father is working on my behalf!

Where do we see this in the scriptures? The entire life of Joseph. Sold by his brothers. Falsely accused. Imprisoned. Then second in command of the entire nation of Egypt.

When he meets his brothers again, you see Joseph’s heart… a heart free of unforgiveness. And it says of this man throughout his story, “But the Lord was with Joseph…”

Through all the hardships, through all the bad stuff, the Lord was with Him. Joseph’s faith (trust) in God and his heart turned toward God (in this case in forgiveness towards all who wronged him), made a way for God to continually work on his behalf.

As I write this, I think it is interesting that one of the greatest examples of forgiveness we see in the Bible is Jesus as He hung on the cross. As He hung there dying, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He was in a bad situation that was about to get worse. He was headed for hell. He believed God would raise Him up. But before He left this earth, He forgave. Selah.