Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.
Matthew 5:7
I had a friend who recently died
She was a woman who feared the Lord
She had a beautiful relationship with Jesus
She also had many faults
She knew God’s mercy well
She extended that mercy that God had shown her, to others
Her husband was not kind to her
He dominated her which made her anxious
He was cruel and controlling and demanded she serve him
every waking moment
While that seems like an exaggeration, it was not
I won’t go into specifics more than that
He was a bear
Though his control was far over-reaching,
she still tried to serve the Lord
And she did
She also served the bottle
She struggled with alcoholism for many years
It soothed her emotions, made her numb
The Lord taught me to merciful to her, even though she drank
He taught me to have compassion on her
That was not easy as, by nature,
I am a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of person
Her life was hard with the constant demands of trying to please her husband,
which was an impossible task
He liked me for some reason and I spent time with them
He bossed me around as well…as much as he could
This was a 40-year friendship
It turned out she was stricken with a sudden illness
She went to the hospital and soon after died
Her husband grieved for months,
then he married his personal assistant of 9 years
The anger he had toward my friend made more sense as he was torn
Now, it is up to me to gain mercy for him from the Lord
I certainly don’t have it on my own
I am not his judge
He will be judged as we all will be on the final Judgment Day
As a human, my mercy and kindness is to extend to him as a representative of Christ
Jesus is teaching me this at a new level, to be genuine and completely forgive
I must have patience with myself
and continue to commit my judgments and feelings to Jesus
so He can continue to help me to extend mercy, the kind of mercy He gives
No matter how things look on the outside,
God sees the whole picture and I do not
She was a great teacher and demonstrator of God’s mercy,
though flawed, that is one of things she knew well
I must let my judgments go and forgive from the bottom of my heart
That would be the best way to honor her
and our most merciful God and Savior
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. James 2:13