Forgive and forget??
By Violet

Forgive and forget, that's what a lot of people will say. But what hit me that I probably will never forget it was what my secondary school chaplain shared with us before. He said, one person could never forget what happened, unless you have some brain problem that makes you forget things. But besides that, it is very hard for you to completely forget what happened between you and another person, and is even hard when you have to face that person often. So what do we do at this point? He changed the phrase to, forgive and CHOOSE not to remember. Choices. Like what Si Er shared with us few weeks ago. Choosing to do this or not. Similarly, choosing to remember and bear that grudge and to be hurt or not.

You might think that you are not bearing any grudges, hurts or pains, but the devil likes to use all these to distract us. He puts in little thoughts and doubts, little by little, one by one, until we gradually get affected by it if we do not stand strong enough in God's truth. Like me, I was attacked by the devil and he brought in my childhood pains and hurts to just rub a little salt on the wound. But thanks for brother and sister in Christ, who prayed for me, I went through it and am indeed being refreshed by His Spirit. These kinds of hurts will not heal over night, but it might even stay for a long time. But God's love, God's mercy, God's goodness and God's grace is new every morning, renewal of the Spirit is a daily thing. It is not a one off thing whereby once would solve the whole problem, but this is a daily process. And these processes cause you to realize the greatness of God's love and experience His love.

Once I read in 'Our Daily Bread', a pastor said "the idea that God forgets my sins isn't very reassuring to me. After all, what if He suddenly remembered? In any case, only imperfection can forget, and God is perfect." So what does God do? God didn't say that He'll forget out sins - He says He'll remember them no more! His promise not to remember them ever again is stronger than saying He'll forget them. Now isn't this more reassuring? For it says in Hebrews 8:12 "their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more". God actually promised to forgive us and never bring up our sins again!

Similarly when we forgive people, we have to choose not to remember them, rather than saying that you will forget them. And this does not happen overnight, it might not even happen over the week, it might take a long time, for me, I took about 3 years and sometimes I will still find it hard. What should we do then? We should renew and strengthen ourselves in the Lord every day, praying that He will help us, because it is not by our strength that we can do this, but by every strength of God.

Another point that God dropped into my heart to share is to keep praying. There was this phrase in my QT devotion that impacted me, which was God may deny our request but He will NEVER disappoint our trust. Faith is not demanding what we want; it is trusting God's goodness in spite of life's tragedies. If it doesn't happen after you pray, do not stop praying, continue praying. In Luke 11: 10 "Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened".

I question not God's means or ways
Or how He uses time or days,
To answer every call or prayer
I know He will, somehow, somewhere. – Whitney

Whatever you are praying for, do not lose hope, because God hears it and He will answer it when the time is right and perfect because God is a perfect God! God bless!