The Blessing of I’m Sorry
When Rev and I were first married, I would take every little thing that happened to hurt my fragile feelings for whatever reason and hold it tight. Then I would let these little slights pile up one on top of the other. Until . . . I would melt in a puddle of tears and tell Rev everything he had done since the last melt-down. Not my most attractive moments.
He would take it all in and say, “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt your feelings. If you would tell me right away that something upsets you, I’ll know and do my best to stop doing it.”
That’s how we do it.
If we’re upset we say so, we talk about it, apologize, forgive, and because we love each other we try very hard not to do it again.
The other night I was having trouble sleeping. My mind wandered from prayer to an ADD stream of conscious menagerie of thought; agitated and restless I stopped in prayer and said, “I’m sorry.”
Like the tax collector in Luke 18 my words were simple and without detail, “Lord, I’m sorry, please forgive me.”
My wordless prayer cried out the feelings of my heart, “Lord, I don’t want to disappoint You. I don’t want to fail to do the things You want for me. I don’t want to do the things You’ve told me not to do. I’m sorry. I want to live in a way that gives You glory. Please help me.”
The Blessing.
Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:5
But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9
You forgive! All guilt is gone.
Forgiven and cleansed because of His amazing love for us.
Peace that comes with the assurance of God’s love in and through Jesus.
The blessing of I’m sorry . . .
If My people who are called by My name put away their pride and pray, and look for My face, and turn from their sinful ways, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Father, forgive us. Heal us. Restore us to You and grant us Your peace. Amen.
Fun listening to story of your early years of marriage, Deb – I was the same way! It is kinda like that with our relationship with God, though, isn’t it – except that He’s never the one acting like the jerk. I’m beginning to learn some of the subtle things that make me feel un-close to Him. And I can relate to what you said – a quick apology and a restoring of the fellowship.
When our daughter was little she would often say, “I didn’t do it.” Even when we had witnessed whatever the “it” was. I’m so often like that with God. “I didn’t do it.” When it would be much better to simply say, “I’m sorry.” So, thankful for His love and patience.
Great post. It reminds me of one of my favourite scriptures: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. – Ephesians 4:32
Thanks Lauren, Love that Scripture. We are so blessed by His love.
Wonderful message! Just what I needed today! Thank you!
Thank you Catherine. I am so glad you visited and to the time to say hello.
One of the things you told me about forgiveness in your marriage that I’ve never forgotten is that your hubby reminded you that he was never intentionally hurting you. So often, I think I tell myself that the hurter did it on purpose, when I know I rarely intend to hurt someone else.