“If you own this story, you get to write the ending.” -Brené Brown
On this edition of Cradle My Heart we talked about how God can give us a beautiful ending, specifically through forgiveness.
Matthew 6:14-15 says “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” If you want to be forgiven you must first forgive, so we tackled the question of “how?” How can we forgive others, and also how can we forgive ourselves?
Our first guest was Jeannie Scott Smith, author of , who shared with us her own emotional and powerful story. Jeannie grew up in a single-family home, which she believes influenced her choices later in life. She is always careful to take full responsibility for her actions, though, offering praise for the sacrifices her mother made to see the family through. But she also shared with us the pain she experienced, and how she has overcome the consequences of her choices. Above all, Jeannie shared with us her love for God’s Word, and how it has healed her heart and soul.
As Jeannie shared her story with us she talked about how God worked in her life to bring about healing, and how important it is to center our life and relationships on God. She explained how forgiveness really is a gift from Jesus that we must first choose to accept, and then choose to give to others. You must first understand and make the decision to believe what forgiveness is, and then ask God to have the feelings and emotions follow.
Jeannie also spoke on the importance of forgiving yourself. As we discussed on tonight’s show, self-forgiveness is not scriptural, but rather it is a gift you must ask God for and then accept. You must own your own story and submit yourself to God’s love, and then accept how much you need God’s presence in your life and ask him to forgive you.
Listen here to tonight’s podcast to hear Jeannie’s complete story and to learn how you can achieve forgiveness:
