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| Prayers for Living |
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A Prayer for
Forgiving Oneself
Gracious God, my heart is heavy with my own
failures. I try
to excuse them and explain to myself why they occurred,
because I want to be free from the feeling that I am
unworthy and incapable of being all that I can be.
But I find it
easier to accept your forgiveness than to forgive
myself.
Read
more of the prayer
from
Pr=ayers for Living
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| Being Real |
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How would living a life that is spiritually
authentic
change the way we think about ourselves, treat one
another,
spend our time? What would be important to us—so
important that deep inside we knew it outweighed all
our
concerns about money and status and success?
Read
more
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| Your Questions |
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How can the God of
judgment and punishment, as often portrayed in the Old
Testament, be reconciled with the concept of a God
of love?
Forgiving and asking forgiveness, absolving one
another and
making amends for the wrong we have done, creates a
different kind of person, a different kind of world,
a world
which Jesus envisioned for us even as we did him in.
by The Rev. Dr. Katherine M. Lehman
Read
more...
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| explorefaith.org Books: How Can I Let Go…? |
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 How
Can I Let Go If I Don't Know I'm Holding On?
by Linda Douty
Letting go is not denial. Letting go is not
condoning hurtful behavior. Letting go is not
behavior modification. Letting go is not being
"above it all."…It is a profound spiritual
process that
removes barriers to our true selves and our
communion with God.
Read
an excerpt
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| Coming Next Week |
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The Truth about Forgiveness |
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Some years ago I came across an idea that helped
clarify
and deepen my understanding of forgiveness.
Forgiveness means relinquishment. Itís that
simple.
To relinquish something is to release whatever
power it
holds over us. If I forgive someone for a wrong done
to me, I
no longer allow that event to determine how I treat
the other
person. I may remember the wrong or I may forget it,
but
either way I have disarmed it. It no longer
determines my
actions, thoughts, or words.
Forgiveness in
this
sense is rarely easy or quick. How often do we say, we
ìforgiveî another person, but still hold a secret
grudge?
Because of its difficulty, forgiveness has to be
practiced. It
is less an act than a way of living, a discipline, a
cultivated
skill. I think this is why Jesus told his students
to forgive
ìseventy times sevenî (Matthew 18:21). True forgiveness
often comes only at the end of an inner struggle.
from The
Parable of the Slighted Son
by Mark Muesse
Forgiven and Forgiving
In the long run, our growth in forgiveness is a part
of our growth in faith.
from Forgiveness
and Justice
by L. William Countryman
We Might See God
What do you suppose would happen if we boldly let go
of all that others have done and all that life has done to
us—and, all that we have done to others and
ourselves?
from Imagine
It. We Might See God
by Renee Miller
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