Step/Week 9, Day 7 – Forgiveness and Grace: God’s Everlasting Gift Testimony
May 6, 2020 1186
“May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and hope, which we don’t deserve, comfort your hearts with all comfort, and help you in every good thing you say and do” (2 Thess. 2:16-17, TLB).
As a child, I never quite seemed to receive the gifts I wanted, especially for my birthday or at Christmas. Because of my family’s financial situation, I was nearly always disappointed, always playing catch-up with my friends who had received the same gifts years previously, that I just received. I was an ungrateful child not realising, then, the true meaning of a gift.
In adulthood, I took a different view: one of wanting to please others with my gift-giving, to the point of being over-extravagant. But again, I missed the point. I was trying to earn people’s love through the gifts I gave them. The warning signs of addiction were already flashing bright in my life, but I didn’t even notice them.
My parents divorced when I was 11 years old. I felt unloved and didn’t know how to express love properly. “Dysfunctional”, “unloving” and “fractured” would be words I would use to describe my family’s life both before and after the divorce.
However, once God put me on the road to recovery from my addictions, I came to realise many things about God. I realised that He saved a miserable, addicted sinner like myself. He helped me get out of the vicious, circle of addiction I put myself in. He gave me the gift of salvation—an everlasting gift. It’s like in today’s verse, I know I “don’t deserve” it, but He gave it to me all the same. I have a future because of Him. You have a future, too. He will give you comfort and hope, as He helps you to do “every good thing” He wants you to “say and do”, especially with regards to making your amends and forgiving others.
Be patient as you wait for God to do the miraculous in your life. Wait for the freedom He offers you—it’s a freedom that will last forever, as you spend eternity in His presence as a fully-recovered son or daughter.
– Graham Hood
Prayer: Father, How I marvel at the gift of salvation that You gave me. Thank You for the gift of grace. Thank You for you daily provision in my life. Thank You for the free gift of faith. Keep my faith strong in You. Help me to wait patiently for You to do the miraculous in my life. I thank You for this journey towards recovery. Thank You that You will help me make my amends to those I have hurt in the past. Please, Father, give me the strength and grace to be able to forgive those who have hurt me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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