Hey guys! Happy Easter, and welcome to the last post in the #FocusingOnGod month! I think doing this was so much fun, and I'm for sure going to do this again, either later this year, or sometime next year. I loved reading the blog posts! I'm sad this is coming to a close.
Honestly, I'm not really a big fan of doing Animal Jam posts. I prefer doing Christian posts a lot more, so you'll probably see more of those from me!
Also, I'm really sorry if this post is weird, I'm
extremely tired from getting up so early this morning.
Like I literally just wrote a sentence I had to delete because it made 0 sense. Forgive me if I don't make sense.
Let's get going with todays post, which is slightly going to be based off of the new movie, I Can Only Imagine! ^.^
---
Have you ever had someone that you knew you had to forgive, but just thought it would be absolutely impossible to? I know I have.
On March 16th, a movie called I Can Only Imagine came out. Me and my parents went to see it, and honestly, it was one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's based off of MercyMe's lead singer Bart Millard's life.
Bart's childhood wasn't the best. His dad, Arthur, was very abusive, both physically and verbally, and his parents got a divorce when he was really little. He pretty much had to take care of himself his whole life.
When Bart was in middle school, he started attending almost every trip or event his youth group had. On one of his youth group trips, his youth pastor was talking about forgiveness. He had everyone write in their journals, "I choose to forgive ___". Bart says that he just stared at that, and nearly started crying. He knew he had to forgive his dad who had been so abusive to him, but he just couldn't write that he chose to forgive his dad.
When Bart was in high school, his dad got got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And then everything changed. God totally opened Bart's dad's eyes, and he was able to see that he needed God. Especially since he only had a few years left to live. In the I Can Only Imagine memoir I'm currently reading, Bart says how he would go in his dads to check on him, and Bart's dad would be asleep, with his Bible opened, and notes scribbles throughout the margins. Him and his dad, for the first time, were able to have real conversations. Bart pretty much became his dad's night time nurse in his last few years, which mean't he would have to give his dad his medicines at around 2 AM or so. Bart says how during those late nights, they would talk so much, and his dad would tell him just hundreds of details of his life.
I just love what Bart wrote in the first chapter of the memoir,
"From a feared monster to a faithful mentor.
From an abusive dad to a loving father.
From a heart of stone to a life of grace"
For a while, Bart held onto some hurt from the past, but he was finally able to let go of that. He was able to finally forgive.
This story reminds me of a story we see in the Bible, while Jesus was hanging on the cross. In those last few moments, a thief that was on the cross next to Jesus, accepted Christ. Here's the story, that's found in Luke 23:39-43.
-
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
-
This man who was hanging next to Jesus was a criminal. He may have heard about Jesus at some point of time, but if he was a criminal, I highly doubt he was following Jesus. But at the very last moments of his life, he was forgiven. He accepted Christ.
That's why the story of Bart's dad reminds me so much of the thief on the cross. In the last years of his life, God forgave him. He was such a terrible man. He was abusive. But God still forgave Him, and Bart's dad accepted Christ.
People may be hard to forgive sometimes, but Jesus forgives them. Jesus forgives you. There isn't anyone he can't forgive. He died on the cross and rose again for you, so you could be forgiven from your sins. That's why we celebrate Easter!
So no matter what you've done, God can forgive you. No matter what your family has done, God can forgive them. No matter what anyone has done, God can forgive everyone.
Who do you need to forgive today?
Happy Easter!
~Graciepopstar91
