Since today’s Small Straws message from Marsha Burns is so timely and important to all of us as we stand for the restoration of our marriages, I just had to share it! And so like God, the timing is perfect, as earlier today I discussed unforgiveness with one of the FAM members who was feeling troubled by a hurtful past experience with her husband, wich led me to suggest that she ask the Lord to reveal if there were still issues of unforgiveness that she needed to deal with. And, as many of the FAM members know, unforgiveness has been a topic of discussion for the past week or so.

It’s not at all unusual to hear of marriages being very close to restoration when everything comes to a screeching halt for no apparent reason, or of marriages being restored only to fall apart again, which I believe is caused in many cases by unforgiveness. One thing we can all be absolutely certain of is that if we still have unforgiveness in our hearts, no matter how deeply buried it is, it WILL eventually rear its ugly head, AND it will do so at the worst possible moment! When we have forgiven a past wrong, hurt or disappointment, it no longer has power to cause us pain or distress. So if thoughts of that event still come unbidden to our minds and still cause strong emotions, we have NOT forgiven it, no matter how much we’d like to convince ourselves or others that we have. And without genuine, unconditional forgiveness, it’s impossible to create and maintain the atmosphere of grace that’s necessary for redemption, and without redemption, lasting restoration is not possible. So we all need to take the following message from Marsha Burns to heart and ask the Lord to reveal ANY areas of unforgiveness still buried deep in our hearts.

“October 13, 2006: Make the right choices to get your heart right before Me, says the Lord. Your desert experience has its roots in rejection, bitterness, and unforgiveness. I tell you truly that you cannot ride out of your desert until you release everyone and everything from the past. This is a time when you can once and for all be done with all injustice and reproach and move ahead in My plans and purposes. You will not regret making choices for freedom — yours and theirs.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

You can access Marsha Burns’ Small Straws messages here, as well as sign up to receive them by email.

Posted Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 4:15 pm in Seeds Of Faith.