This story was forwarded to me by my friend Judith. I found it applicable to my life, right here and right now! I hope it will be a blessing to you or someone you know. Again, this is from an email I received.
"There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back, he saw Grandma's pet duck.
Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved!
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' but Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.’ Then she whispered to him, "remember the duck?'
So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.’ Sally just smiled and said, 'well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help?’ She whispered again, 'remember the duck?’ So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally couldn't stand it any longer.
He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'
Thought for the day and every day thereafter:
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ...whatever it is...You need to know that: God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.
He has seen your whole life... He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.
The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved. Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today.
Share this with a friend and always remember: God is at the window! When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!"
We all know, none of us is perfect. Often we cling to our shame and sorrow over our mistakes and misdeeds because another person continues to remind us of them or perhaps because we feel as though we do not deserve forgiveness. We all deserve and will receive forgiveness from God -all you need do is ask Him.
My goal in sharing this with you today is simply to remind you, if you are in this situation right now, perhaps your best move is to 1) ask forgiveness from God, 2) sincerely apologize to anyone you have wronged, 3) ask their forgiveness and 4) ask them, "How can I make this right with you?"
Once you take these steps, you are well on your way down the road to self-forgiveness.
I offer the following link to an article from WebMD.
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/learning-to-forgive-yourself
This article discusses the health benefits of learning to forgive yourself.
Namaste ~ Anita Mordue
May you begin to learn to forgive yourself and make this your best day yet!
