By Kathie Fico

Eph 4:31-32, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.”

Mixing, twirling, round and round, and round! Flour, sugar, oatmeal, and all the other necessary ingredients…mixed and blended together with raisins folded in. Yummy…a great blend of sweet and healthy, with textures rough and smooth. Satisfaction to your stomach and to the roof of your mouth and tongue. Homemade Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are the bomb!

While preparing these cookies, the Holy Spirit instructed me to notice the movement of the hand mixer.  Observing what I saw caused me to pray about my sensory experience to receive from Him what I needed. For Prov. 24:32 states, “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw”.  

Before folding in the raisins, the concoction was all clumped together, causing the mixer to slow its twirling. I had to keep lifting the beaters out of the mixture, allowing the cookie dough to spew off. Each time I did this, I noticed the beaters would get faster as the mixture was falling off. Eventually, the dough was blended together.

“When you truly forgive, and let go, you leave room for God’s best in your life”, said Iraida Garcia. Much like the increasing momentum of the beaters as I lifted them up out of the mixture, we become free each and every time we forgive and let go. We’re bound to our thoughts and emotions, to our past if we let it, until we choose to forgive every hurt and every pain. Heb 12:1 says, “…let us strip off every weight that slows us down”. Our forgiving someone doesn’t have anything to do with what the person did or didn’t do. Forgiveness deals with our pain, not another’s behavior. All kinds of doubts and fears hold us back and interfere with our ability to trust others and to trust God. When we’re no longer tied up inside, we’re free to trust. Free to trust others. Free to trust the Lord and His Word. His Word fights for us, in every area of our life; we don’t have to solve our setbacks in our own strength. Because the Lord cares for us and loves us with an everlasting love, we can “cast every care upon Him (release the weight of it)” I Peter 5:7.

Being sexually abused as a child from a family friend was my weight, my stronghold, until I forgave, and forgave and forgave. My forgiveness towards the offender came in layers, first in my heart and mind, and than verbally directly to him. Then I was instructed by the Lord to tell my mom. All these steps were very hard, but worth the forgiveness that I gave. It released me from the chains and pain, and best of all, the gentleman accepted the Lord as his Savior.

I encourage you my friend, life is way too short to hold grudges, fear, doubts, resentment, and bitterness. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” Eph6:10. It has been scientifically proven that forgiveness heals us physically and emotionally. We are free to rejoice in the Lord, with “no strings attached”, and free to trust others, and free to trust the Lord and His Word.

Allow yourself to be free, free from the clumps of dough that are holding you back. Allow the momentum of your forgiveness to bring you joy and freedom to your mind and heart, and re-joy in the Lord!  And always remember to Just Breathe!

Reflection Corner: 

1. What types of doubts and fears are holding you back in experiencing God’s joy?
2. Is there anyone that you are afraid of seeing?
3. If you honestly answered these two questions, what can you do to gain freedom…true freedom?