Forgiveness

Today, I sat down on the couch next to my mom and said "There's something I need you to know, and that is that I forgive you, you may have already guessed that by the way I've acted but I need you to hear those words, see, that (last year when she told me things about her and my dad's relationship that I had not known before then) was by far the hardest thing that has happened to me so far in my life and because of it I stopped going to church" she said "you lost faith?" I said "yes, I stopped going to church and really felt that I couldn't trust God because tho He didn't cause all those things to happen, He didn't cause the people I'm supposed to be able to trust more than any others to lie to me my whole life, but He allowed it and so I decided I couldn't trust Him anymore. So whether you know it or not, I came here to run away. But God has made all those things new. He has used those things to the good and He has rebuilt my foundation" Then she asked me why is it that God allows bad things to happen if He is good and I went into the truth that true Love must happen in freedom, talked to her about Adam and Eve...it was AMAZING A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. We talked about hell and why people go there, we talked about the difference between Jesus and God...WOW...all these hard topics, that I've been built up in as I've heard the preaching at Austin Stone. It was so incredible! And we have 9 more days together on the road...

I feel like forgiveness is so key, and really, when we begin to understand the depths of God's forgiveness toward us, when we begin to see the bigger picture of how He truly DOES work ALL THINGS to the good of those who ARE CALLED according to His purpose...man...its so powerful guys!

I can't believe I was already to talk to my mom about so much today and share so much truth with her already! I really can't wait for the rest of this trip! God is so amazing guys! I feel like that statement is not enough to really describe my heart toward Him but those are the only words I can think of for now.

I don't know how often I will be able to check back here over the next nine days but I will write you more when I get back to Boise unless I get the chance to write while on the road.

In awe,
Em