THE JOY OF BEING WRONG

 If you knew this wife and mother -  you'd know that she's a great forgiver.  She really and truly is.  She has forgiven almost every sin imaginable. Her father. Her mother. Her siblings. Her husband. She gives credit to God for teaching her how to forgive. She is a MODEL of forgiveness. HER CHILDREN WILL KNOW HOW TO FORGIVE OTHERS because they saw it modeled in their mommy. 

They might, however, have a problem - like their mommy does - with asking for forgiveness.   SHE'S NOT REALLY GOOD AT ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS.  Maybe it's because she has lived a life of enduring people sinning against her.  Who knows?  She excuses her behavior. She justifies her mistakes.  If a brave friend (like me) tried to suggest that maybe her anger, her attitude, her favoring one child over another, her constant berating of her husband, her loud and sassy attitude could be a contributing factor in the turmoil in her home.... she shut me down. I learned the hard way that unless I was willing to let her always be the VICTIM.. she wouldn't let me be her friend.  The cold hard truth is that she wasn't ALWAYS the victim. Sometimes she was the VICTIMIZER. Sadly, her second marriage is on the rocks. Family torn apart.  Siblings not speaking. Her family, her marriage could have been redeemed if she wasn't so adamant about never being wrong. I think her children would have forgiven her mistakes... if she would only have admitted she made some. 

God OFFERS forgiveness.. FREE...because Jesus paid the price for every sin.

BUT....God doesn't forgive anyone who doesn't ask to be forgiven. 
FORGIVING IS ONLY HALF THE STORY OF REDEMPTION.

ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS IS THE OTHER most important HALF.

A child who knows how to ask for forgiveness is a child who will be forgiven.   Have you ever asked your children to forgive you for your failures? Or do you brush them off? Acting like you are a perfect person cannot be doing any good for your less-than-perfect children.
My goal today, is that the Holy Spirit will convict just one mommy to humble herself and admit to a kid that, yes, she lost her temper and she was wrong.  Period. No excuse. "Mommy should not have screamed at you like that.  Mommy was wrong. Will you forgive me, daughter?" 
OR... "Children, it's not your fault life is difficult at times. Will you forgive me for exasperating you and expecting you to be the adult while I act like a baby?"
OR... "Daddy, I was wrong for being so grouchy and speaking to you the way I did... Will you forgive me?"  
Being wrong - and admitting it - is the first step toward being right.  THE JOY OF BEING WRONG is that without it, you will never experience the JOY of being FORGIVEN. And neither will your children.

Love you,
Mrs. Older.

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