Asking For Forgiveness

by Navy Lanier

Have you ever gotten your car stuck in the mud and it prevented you from going any further? While most people haven't, I have. The weirdest thing about getting your car stuck in the mud is that sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forward so that you can get out of the mud.

Just recently I accepted that my life has been filled with a series of muddy situations. I've gotten myself into things that I hasn't been so easy to get out of. There have been some decisions I've made, some relationships I've squandered, some pain that I've afflicted, and combined, those things have landed me dead in the middle of a mess.

My own personal mud.

As I have been reflecting on the consequences of those actions, I've discovered that I was stuck, and to truly move forward in life, to truly gain traction, one must first sometimes go backwards and deal with the things that got them stuck. I recently sat down and started going one by one down a list of people I've hurt over the course of my life time. Some of those people did me no harm, they only wanted the best for me, and yet because of my lack of a healthy model of how to value relationship and interact socially, I cut them off. I walked away. I disconnected myself not thinking about how their life would be affected by me doing so.

So, as I begin to beseech God on what to do as it relates to getting unstuck, it became very clear to me what needed to be done. I needed to ask for forgiveness. Now, that is not an easy thing, especially when sometimes the breech wasn't your fault. But, laying aside your pride and asking people to forgive you isn't for the immature. It takes a mature person to ask for forgiveness as much as it takes a mature person to forgive. Forgiveness isn't for anyone else. It's for you. Even if a person doesn't forgive you, you can rest knowing you've done what's right.

When we ask for forgiveness from God it unclogs the pipe of your blessings. When we ask people to forgive us it not only unclogs the pipe of communication, it unclogs the potential the relationship has to blossom into something beautiful--whether it be familial, personal, business or platonic.

God paints a wonderful picture of his love and forgiveness in Isaiah 1:18-19. If we go to Him with a sincere heart and mind, He will forgive us of our indiscretions. That passage of scripture says, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land."

Here's the thing. I hope you take away from this blog a mirror. Ask yourself what it will take for you to get unstuck. I needed to right some wrongs. I needed to forgive and ask for forgiveness. What do you need to do?