Repair & Restore: 5-Day Devo for Moms & DaughtersSample

Moving Forward 

What is the image you see when you see you and your mother, or you and your daughter in the present and in the future? Are you remembering past hurts, or making steps to live in freedom?

After forgiveness is offered and received, don’t look back at the past. We spend far too much time focusing on what is behind us. First John 1:9 shows if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. It’s done. 

After you forgive or ask forgiveness, put up a “No Fishing” sign. Don’t go back there and fish for it again. A wise idea would be to focus forward instead. Why spend time on what you’ve already walked through? 

God doesn’t want us beating up ourselves or berating others after the forgiveness conversation. It’s behind you. Now you want to look ahead at what’s between you in this new place. 

Do you recall how God delights in doing new things? God dealt with Israel in the days when they were worshiping idols. There were people who suffered greatly for not acknowledging God as the one to worship and bow down to. But when He saved His remnant in Israel, they recognized God was starting a new season, and His power was seen and felt as recorded by Isaiah.

God is doing something new in our lives and we can discern it when we bow to Him and not to our own ideas of what our greatest needs are. As you come to Him and seek what He’s doing to reconcile what’s been in your heart toward your mother or daughter, what do you see when you look up from there?

Would you consider making a sign that marks the forgiveness in your life? Think about what it would say and how you might display it. Create a visual reminder of what now rules over your mind, rather than the past. You can craft something out of distressed wood or buy a sign that says what’s in your heart. You could create something with needle and thread. The mending that comes through the words you look to can help when doubt threatens to enter your day. 

Whatever your gifting or personal style, choose something that can be placed over the mantle of your home or office, that can also be a mantle over your heart, a visual of the words that frame your life and your relationships. Sometimes we get to be restored to the one we want to forgive or the one we have asked forgiveness of. Regardless, we can always be restored to God where we have let someone else’s thoughts of us take precedence over God’s. 

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If you’ve enjoyed these devotions from Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters by Blythe Daniel and Helen McIntosh and would like to discover more resources for how to find healing and mend your relationships, visit:  http://www.ourmendedhearts.com .