This isn’t My Ticket

In the months after my abandonment 8.5 years ago, a friend brought me a book. It was one that provided inspiring infusions of hope during a hopeless season. The Scars That Have Shaped Me by Vaneetha Rendall Risner – quickly became a valued treasure.

One of the books chapters starts with..

“This Isn’t The Ticket I bought. That is what I thought when my “life detour”… found me on a road I had not anticipated. I road I was not prepared for. I road I did not want to travel.”

The chapter goes on to say years later, she realized the detour was actually the road God planned for her to take. It was not temporary. The old familiar road was no longer.

“The old road often seemed like it was more relaxing and easy to drive on. The new road can be bumpy and twisty, narrow with sharp curves. I found myself longing for the ease of the old familiar road.”

To successfully navigate the new road, the forced ticket of forgiveness that is handed to us must be accepted. It is only through forgiveness that the “new road” is tolerable. This was a message I needed to hear in those difficult days. This was true. It was my deepest desire in those painful years to “give back” the ticket of forgiveness to the Lord and say… “Seriously, this doesn’t belong to me!” Wrong passenger! Wrong destination!

Meeting with a client this past week, the power of forgiveness emerged in our sharing. The origin of the word forgiveness is:

(The etymology/origin of the word forgiveness) : Latin – perdonare: to give completely without reservation, to pardon. To give up the desire or power to punish.

The destination (new road) of restoration and rebuilding can only be reached by embracing the assigned ticket of Forgiveness. It frees us. It releases the bitterness that poisons our thoughts, hopes and daily lives.

Have you been forced onto a detour road?

Has the ticket of Forgiveness been forced into your hand?

Rest assured, others have traveled your “detour road” and survived.

and remember…

I’m Listening……