BE WATCHFUL AND FORGIVING

Written by Luz Leigh – 29 February 2008

      About three years ago I announced to my family that I had joined a Christian chat room on the Internet. How well I remember the words of a dear cousin, as she sat in my living room and said, “Oh, LuzLeigh, do be careful about doing that. People get hurt in those chat rooms.” I reassured her that I would be safe…..this was a CHRISTIAN chat room. Little did I know that even Christian chat rooms cannot shield one from danger.

      Within a year one of the faithful chatters had targeted me as a threat to her position in the room, so she began a campaign to have me removed. That has continued until today. The emotional and mental abuse was taking its toll on me. My ability to express my thoughts on the screen to be shared with others on my web page had been stifled. The joy of entering the chat room in the evening and visiting with my “friends” there, has taken on a different feeling. I feel ill at ease, out of place, because I know not how many lies this woman has spread behind my back.

      Our Lord teaches us to turn the other cheek, forgive those who wrong us, and to pray for them. I have done this. The daily Bible reading yesterday was on tenderhearted forgiveness. “Genuine forgiveness understands shortsightedness, overlooks bad habits, and looks into the hearts of others with love.” Wow! What wonderful words. In Ephesians 4:32 we find these words: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Forgiving others is not just something we do to make us have a warm, fuzzy feeling; we are commanded by God to do so.

      It has been a hard lesson for me to learn, but Karen was right. I did get hurt, but I am on the road to being healed by the Physician Himself. My prayer is that the one who deemed it necessary to cause harm to me will find forgiveness as I have. Without our realizing it, many times wolves slip in among us, clothed as sheep. Therefore, we must always be on the alert; put on the whole armor of God each morning when we arise; talk to Him daily, thanking Him for what He has done for us and what He will do for us, and live lives that are worthy of being called Children of God.