Anger...bitterness...resentment. They beat against your heart like raging waves pummel the side of a sailors vessel.
Only there is one major difference. These mighty waves of life don't batter us externally...they do their damage from the inside...stirred into a frenzy by a heart that rages from hurt.
And the great problem with this storm is that when you find yourself in it...you loose your bearings. The waves are so great, the wind so strong, that it consumes all of your time and attention.
But to the weary war-ragged heart there is a great hope. Believe it or not, there is a way to stop your heart from continuing to stir up the raging seas of resentment.
It won't come naturally. In fact it can't come naturally. The way that I speak of isn't natural in nature.
There is only one way to calm raging seas. And it involves super-natural authority.
Jesus taught us that "All authority in heaven and on earth had been given unto Him." It's the authority that he constantly displayed during His ministry: healing the blind, raising the dead, calming the storm.
And that super-natural authority is still alive and active today...even if it's not as visible to us as it was to the disciples. When we take our hearts full of raging resentment and turn them over to the ONE who has authority over the "wind and the waves" Jesus does the unthinkable. He gives us the ability to breathe again. The ability to love again. The ability to trust again.
How? Because He teaches us what forgiveness really is.
And once we have truly understood the depth of His forgiveness...forgiving others suddenly seems possible.
With Christ on board we find new courage to stand in the midst of the strife and speak boldly out into the gale within. "Be still. You no longer have a hold on me. In the name of Jesus I forgive."
And with his authority...the unthinkable occurs. The resentment...the hurt...they begin to subside. Our heart stills and we are overcome by calm peaceable seas within.
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