This is a big topic. I’m not sure I even know where to start, but it has to be dealt with. It sure needed to be uprooted, examined under a magnifying glass, and then faced and handled for me. As I approach my last writing for this year, I have to include this.

We seem so angry, friends. Our country is in upheaval. Our families have undergone shifts and had just about everything that once was stable and predictable been thrown out the window this year. No one could have ever guessed or predicted or would have even believed this could happen to us.

But a point needs to be made. And I’ve felt it so very deeply this week. As I missed being near to my baby as she had her baby (!!!!!!! Praise God and more on this later !!!!!!) due to this upside-down world, I realized there really is no one to blame.

There is no one to blame, friends.

I hear such anger. It’s so ugly that I don’t think I can even look at it one more time. No one chose this. No one person caused this. If you really take it apart and look at it, no one wants anyone sick. Not one action could have prevented it. It’s a virus that has spread, and it has to now run its course.

Is blame easier than facing the fear? I think, yes. So many moments in my life, I blame before I should. If I’m honest, my first reaction is to blame until I check myself. And sadly, the reason I blame is because I’m not willing to deal with a hard truth lurking underneath.

But sometimes, someone else has genuinely done some harm. As I look back in my writing, I have touched on the subject of forgiveness often. Here are some titles for you to explore — For Heaven’s Sake, Let it Go, and A Step Back.

Forgiveness is the key. It is the KEY to moving forward into a healthy state of mind, of body, of living. If we can’t forgive, we are destined to remain in a garbage can while things rot inside and all around us — and pretty soon, that ugly stinks and other people can smell it. I’ve literally seen it infect and kill two people in my life. And on that note, I had some serious forgiving to do before it killed my very heart and body. My absolute biggest healing came when I had to forgive my mother (click here)for being a mother who couldn’t love her daughter. I’m not sure a topic gets more tricky, but it is what it is, and I had to let God dig it up so I could walk through and out of those hurts and feelings — it was my biggest metamorphosis. We just can’t be people who love and not let the past go.

I long for each of you to know what it feels like to let God heal those places that feel embedded deep in your heart and wrap throughout the deep places. For me, forgiveness is continual. It began in one day for the big stuff, but as memories resurface, there are certainly times that I need to forgive folks again. I feel the feelings, forgive them out loud, and accept the healing to my heart.

What a beautiful time of year to go back so we can go forward, right? Then, with thankful hearts, we can step forward into whatever is next with anticipation instead of being dragged down by old junk. Let’s do this together. Let’s walk into the light — victims no more!

Once there were two monks traveling on a pilgrimage who came to the ford of a river. There they saw a girl dressed in all her finery and obviously not knowing what to do, for the river was high and she did not want to ruin her clothes. Without any ado, one of the monks took her on his back, carried her across the river, and put her on dry ground. Then the monks continued on their way. But, before long, the other monk started complaining, “Surely it is not right to touch a woman; it is against our command-ments to have close contact with women. How could you go against the rules for monks?” and so on he complained for what seemed like hours. The monk who carried the girl walked along silently, but finally he remarked, “I set her down by the river, but you are still carrying her.”

In every relationship be swift to choose peace over competition, and run swiftly toward holiness, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.¹⁵ Watch over each other to make sure that no one misses the revelation of God’s grace. And make sure no one lives with a root of bitterness sprouting within them which will only cause trouble and poison the hearts of many.

Hebrews 12:14,15 (The Passion Translation)