God-incidence

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ENSLAVED BY THE ENEMY

“But love your enemies and do good to them.” – Luke 6:35

“Grrr. I want to kill him!”
Have you ever felt this before? I have. Many times! This hatred was directed towards the person to whom I entrusted my heart and future but got anguish and a dysfunctional family life instead. Anger consumed me. In questioning my fate, I, in turn, lost my faith.

I was prodded to attend a Catholic prayer meeting. In due time, God’s loving presence jolted me out of my enslavement. His Word moved me to embark on what seemed to be the unthinkable journey of forgiveness. More difficult for me was reaching out and pursuing genuine acts of kindness despite being scoffed at and perceived as hypocritical each time. Tumultuous as it was, I learned to lift it up to God and let go.

In this 18-year journey, family relationships were destroyed. I lost my pride and my son chose to live with his father. My rewards? Peace of mind, my character and I got my faith back! We are still estranged but in forgiving him, forgiveness to others became second nature to me. No more enemies for me. As for loving? That will follow. Marie Franco (rfranco@its.jnj.com)

REFLECTION:
It’s hard to look past the hurt. But it’s even harder not to take revenge and forgive. But with God, everything is possible.

MY PRAYER:
Come Holy Spirit, release our hearts from the bondage of anger.

And it was such a God-incidence that on the Friday after this 'Thursday'Didache reflection, I shared my own experience of being enslaved by ANGER; allowing myself to be enslaved by the enemy once upon a time...

Looking back to those times of 'anger' it makes me cringe...but it also makes me smile after...knowing that I'm better now.
Thanks to God's being a God of possibilities...a once devilishly angry person like me was welcomed into His embrace and was turned into a forgiving gal. 
It's an everyday battle...but I know better now which wolves I need to feed inside of me.
Praise be to His Name.  He lives!