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Release

You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah Psalm 32:7

The author Stormie Omartian grew up with a mother who told her she was worthless. She locked Stormie in a cupboard because she couldn’t stand to see her daughter’s face. Stormie writes: ‘I was raised by a mentally ill mother… her behavior left me with guilt, hopelessness, helplessness and deep emotional pain. By the time I was a young woman I was still locked in, only the boundaries were emotional not physical – a deep, ever-present pain which expressed itself through self-destruction and paralyzing fear. Years later (with help from a Christian counselor) I learned that unforgiveness as deeply rooted as mine… must be unraveled one layer at a time. One day I felt led to pray, “Lord, give me a heart like Yours for my mother.” Immediately I had a vision of her as a beautiful, fun-loving, gifted woman with no resemblance to the person I knew… I was seeing her the way God made her to be, not the way she’d become. In an instant I put together the pieces of her past – her mother’s tragic death… the suicide of her beloved uncle and foster father, her feelings of abandonment, guilt, bitterness and unforgiveness… Touching the heart of God brought such forgiveness that when she died… I had no bad feelings. In fact, the more I forgave her the more God brought to mind good memories.’

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me forgive those in my past that have hurt me, and help me see them as You see them, so that I can be released to move forward. In Jesus’ Name, Amen