The Ocean's Fury, Unleashed...

The Ocean being my emotions, that should give you a pretty good picture of what the weekend was like for me...
All of us have been or are at that place where you think you just can't go on anymore, where all the people around you, those you thought cared are either oblivious to what's happening or, just don't care about it. The fight is on. 'Why do I have to go through this alone again? Why am I always amazed by this indifference and why on earth does it make me angry? Why do I feel that nobody cares?'
Could it be because... we really don't?
What a frightening question that is. How much do we care for those who hurt? - and since it involves pretty much everybody, let me rephrase the question: How much do we really care for our neighbor, for the stranger in the street? How ready are we to get out of our comfort zone to lend a hand and relieve somebody's pain and/or hopelessness? It requires self-denial, the giving up of something in us: something we're doing at the very moment help is needed, the giving up of the fear of being hurt, of the person's reaction... We could sit here all day and list all the 'good' reasons in the world...
But why? Why?
The only answer I have is because we live in a fallen world, where the 'Me,Myself and I' - the human trinity! - reigns. But guess what? God, our Creator, reigns even higher and He is not impressed by our struggle to take over. No.
How often have I failed to be there for a friend who so desperately needed support? A lot more than I'd like to believe, I'm sure. This truth is humbling because, instead of pointing the finger at those around me, wondering why they're not helping me, it now puts me on the spot too. I'm just as guilty. But thanks to our God, there is a way out; I can go to my Lord, Jesus Christ, who so lovingly has reminded me of my condition, and ask Him to forgive me for such arrogance. And because His Words, in 1 John 1:9 (NIV) tells me that 'if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.' I know that my sin has been removed (Psalm 103:11-12)
So then, what? Well, because He has forgiven me I can forgive others. Do you want to let go? I do. I choose to. I forgive those who could have helped me this weekend but didn't. It means that I choose not to hold it against them, not to act around them as if they owed me something (how arrogant is that?) They don't; their debt has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross. And because He was more than conqueror, He was raised from the dead so that all things could one day be restored, just as He pleases.

In You I find my rest, O Lord,
Thank You for loving me...
Your daughter,

Fabienne