How Many Times Will You Forgive?

I have been reading in Matthew about forgiveness, so I wanted to share some thoughts about it. 

While reading in Matthew and doing a little bit of research, I read that in biblical times in Judaism, it was sufficient to forgive someone 3 times. So when Peter approached Jesus in Matthew 18 and asked him how many times should he forgive his brother, replying with 7 times seemed to have been extremely generous number. I mean, that's more than double what Judaism saw as sufficient, right? 

Jesus' reply of seventy times seven must have been completely shocking to Peter! That's a lot of forgiveness! The point Jesus is trying to make, is that we shouldn't keep count of how many times we forgive people. What? Does this mean we should just let people walk all over us and continue to forgive them every time they hurt us? In my opinion, I believe you should set barriers to keep people from continuing to hurt you and putting yourself in a position to continually having to forgive them, but when they hurt you, you should forgive them. That's what the Bible says! 

I admit, I am not the best at forgiveness. I often hold grudges. I am competitive and like to win and sometimes view forgiveness as losing, but these verses are a good reminder for me to always forgive and not hold on to those bitter feelings. They only hurt me anyway. 

The story here continues with a parable. Jesus tells a story of a servant who owed his king 10,000 talents. When reading about how much money this really was, it would have taken the servant about 20 years to pay off his debt. The king was going to sell the servant to have his debt paid, but the servant pleaded with him to let him continue to work to pay for his debt. And just like that the king forgave his debt. Wow! 

How much more gracious is God at forgiving us! How long have you been sinning? God has been forgiving our debt since the day we were born into this sinful world! We, like the servant, have more debt than can ever be repaid. We can never repay Jesus for dying for our sins on the cross! And God doesn't punish us. He doesn't even threaten to punish us (unless we are not one of His children). We deserve punishment for our sin; we deserve justice, but just as the king simply forgave the servant's debt, so did Jesus. He forgave us by dying on the cross. He forgave us with an immeasurable gift. A gift of eternal forgiveness. 

Therefore, we must show mercy to others and forgive them because we have God living within us. If we are not merciful and forgiving to others, one day we will have to answer for that and there will be consequences. 

Further in the story, the servant approaches a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii. This amount would have been equivalent to about 20 weeks work by the fellow servant. The servant refused to forgive the fellow servant's debt and had him placed in jail. The servant's heart was not transformed by God. Do we truly want to live with a transformed heart or continue to go around with unforgiven bitterness in our heart? 

The fellow servant being handed over to the jailer also further shows how much we deserve punishment. Isn't that what is just? Sending someone to jail because they cannot pay us for what we deserve! 

But God calls us to live a transformed life, a changed life. We should forgive because we understand God's forgiveness for us. We forgive not because it is just, but because we know we should be punished and we are not. 

A changed life by God means we live this way with our reason and thoughts, our emotions and our will and soul. So which will you choose? Will you choose to truly live a transformed life or will you continue to hold on to the things people do to you? If you choose to hold onto them, know you do not truly understand the magnitude of Jesus' purpose on this earth. I am choosing from this day forward to always remember to forgive, even when it is hard. And I hope you will keep me accountable to do so if you see me holding onto something that needs to be forgiven. 

I hope this sparks some of you to go out and do your own research to know how you can change your heart in the matters of forgiveness. I know it was definitely something I needed to study. Honestly, I have read and studied it several times before posting this because it is hard to come to grips with how intense God wants us to be with our forgiveness. I would love to have thoughts and feedback and what you have learned about forgiveness. 

Brittany

Where He Leads We Will Follow

Well, we have some big news to share with you all. Many of you already know our news, but we are officially making it public. Josh and I will be heading back to the states to have baby #2, but we will not be returning to Haiti after the baby is born. Much sadness and many tears have gone into this decision, but we know this is the direction God is leading our marriage and our family. It has not been fun telling our organization, our staff and the kids that we love so much and have developed a bond with over the last year. But God has also put a peace in our heart to show us this is where he is leading us. 

When we first felt called to come to Haiti, we sold all our stuff, packed up what was left and moved our family for the long haul. Or so we thought. We moved knowing we would not leave until God told us to go home or somewhere else. That time has come much sooner than we thought. We grieve leaving this country, but also rejoice in God's sovereignty. It has been very difficult for josh and I living here for many reasons, and most of them are even too hard to explain. 

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to say the difficult goodbyes that lie ahead. Please pray for us as we pack up all our belongings and move back to the states. Please pray for as we transition back into the American culture that we have been removed from for a year. Please also pray for us and the new journey that lies ahead of us. 

We do not feel like our time on the mission field is done at this point either. We prayed about coming home, and God answered by opening the door with another opportunity. So early next year, we will be joining our church and moving to Bangkok, Thailand. 

We want each of you to know that these two events are in no way connected, except through God's divine plan. We had been presented with the opportunity to move to Bangkok previously,  but felt our time in Haiti was not finished. When we began to pray about moving home from Haiti, God kept answering us with Bangkok. Ultimately, we are moving home from Haiti because it is the best thing for our family and because we feel this is what God is telling us to do. 

Just as we felt like we were crazy for moving to a 3rd world country with our 7 month old daughter and leaving all our family, friends and things behind, we feel equally as crazy to be leaving one mission field for another with another 7ish month old and 2 year old and moving half way across the world from our family as friends. 

Needless to say, your prayers will be greatly appreciated throughout the many transitions our family will encounter in the next year. We love you all so much and are so thankful for all your support. 

A Million Thank You's

We wanted to take some time to say thank you to our supporters. Your giving makes our lives in Haiti so much easier! Your provision not only provides our necessities, but our sanity as well. Because of you, we were able to go on a much needed get away, especially before baby Dyer #2 arrives and life gets even more crazy! Our family needed a time of rest and relaxation as we all do at times, so we wanted to say thank you for providing that for us. 

Last week, we were able to stay at a hotel on the beach for several nights! We all got some much needed rest and family time together. Sharles had a blast playing in the pool and enjoyed running up and down the beach too! She had some much needed freedom that she had been missing out on. They also had some playground equipment, which she enjoyed once she figured out how to use it. There aren't many opportunties here for her to play like she was able to when we were there, so we wanted to say thank you for allowing us to be together as a family for a few nights! 

Here are a few pictures we would love to share with you! 

We also don't want to forget those of you who pray for us. Your prayers mean just as much as those who give financially. We are so thankful to each of you who lift us up in prayer. We feel your prayers and are so very grateful for them. 

Thank you also to our family. We know it is hard for each of you for us to be so far away, but you have supported us every step of the way and we are thankful for that. 

We are blessed by each of you and just wanted to take a moment to say how much each of you mean to us, so thank you for everything from the bottom of our hearts! We love you!