Karen thought about her and dreamed about her. She saw her in every woman she met. Some had her name, Cathy. Would she never be free of this woman who had gone after her husband and ultimately married him? She couldn't go on like this. The endless resentment, guilt, and anger drained the life out of everything she did.

One Saturday Karen attended a seminar on the healing power of forgiveness in which they were asked to think of someone they had not forgiven.

Her first thought was of Cathy. Her stomach churned, and her hands grew sweaty and her head throbbed.

Next, the leader invited them to look at whether or not they'd be willing to forgive that person.

How could she forgive Cathy? She not only had hurt her but she'd also hurt her children.

Then a voice within gently asked, "Are you ready to let go of this?  To release her? To forgive yourself, as well?"

Yes, she was willing. In that moment, she simply let go!

Karen said, "I can't describe it. All I know is that for the first time in four years I completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit. I released my grip on Cathy, on my ex-husband, on myself. I let go of the anger-just like that."

Her heart lightened. She suddenly realized that as long as she separated herself from even one person, she separated herself from God.

The following Monday she wrote Cathy a letter. On Wednesday afternoon, the phone rang. "It's Cathy," a voice said softly. Cathy thanked her for the letter, and then said how sorry she was--for everything. All Karen had ever wanted to hear from her, Cathy said that day.

Karen realized that as nice as it was to hear her apology, it paled in comparison to having God's pleasure.

Thank You, Jesus, for giving desire and power to forgive.

"If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14, 15).

No failure or mistake is so serious but what God can make something worthwhile from our lives. We have a great Redeemer who can redeem any situation we give to Him.

It is said that in making a Persian rug the master weaver stands on one side of the loom and shouts instructions to those weaving on the other side. In Let God Guide You Daily, Wesley Duewel writes that if a weaver should make a serious mistake, a truly great master weaver can weave his error into the pattern and others will never realize a mistake was made.

God is the master weaver of our lives. Once we are surrendered to Him, He can weave our mistakes into something useful and beautiful. Past points of disobedience do not need to make us give up in defeat. God can still use us and will still deliver us from the mess we have made. It is a great comfort to remember that God’s mercies are new each morning.

A little girl was trying her best to cut out pattern pieces for a dress. The design she cut was all wrong. What a mess she had made! Tearfully she handed the heap to her mother. “Fix it, Mommy,” and Mommy did fix it. By creatively rearranging the pieces, she made something beautiful for the daughter she loved so much.

This is the way I have dealt with failures. I just hand the whole mess up to Him. I have learned to trust Him to take the pieces I give Him and know that as I begin to trust God in that situation, it is all over for Satan. God is rearranging the pieces into something beautiful.

Thank You, Father, that I need never despair. You  use past defeats to accomplish Your perfect will.

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25).

Helen Roseveare served as a missionary doctor to Africa. Despite her best efforts, a mother she attended in the labor ward died leaving a tiny baby and a two-year-old daughter. To keep the premature baby warm, someone went to fill a hot water bottle. Unfortunately, the bottle broke and they had no other bottles.

The following noon when Dr. Roseveare prayed with the orphanage children, she told them about the tiny baby mentioning the hot water bottle and also the sister crying because her mother had died.

Ten-year-old Ruth prayed, "Please, God, send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."

While Dr. Roseveare gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, Ruth added, "And would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

How could Dr. Roseveare honestly say, "Amen"? She had been in Africa for almost four years and had never received a parcel from home. And she certainly had no place to purchase these supplies.

But at mid afternoon, a car arrived at her front door and someone left a parcel. She sent for the children, and excitement mounted as she lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys, bandages, and a box of raisins.

Then she felt the...  could it really be?... She pulled out a brand-new hot water bottle! Ruth rushed forward, crying, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!"

Rummaging to the bottom of the box, she pulled out a small, beautifully dressed dolly.

That parcel, packed by Dr. Roseveare's former Sunday school class, had been on the way for five months.

Thank You, Father, that our faith never catches You unprepared to answer our prayers.

"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24).

"One Sunday morning, when the soloist began singing the anthem 'All Rise,' the message of the words and the majesty of the melody so overwhelmed me that, almost against my will, I just stood up as though yanked to my feet," Jan Winebrenner tells in her book Intimate Faith.

She was only vaguely aware when her husband stood up beside her. At the end of the song, the entire congregation was standing in awe of the grandeur of God.

A week later Jan was having lunch with a friend from church. "Someone stood up during the choir anthem," she told Jan mentioning the recent Sunday service. "Then, one by one, everybody in the congregation started standing up. It was the most moving thing that's happened in that church in a long time.

"Someone said that a woman in the back stood up all alone--no one knew who it was, but by the time the song ended the entire congregation was standing.

"Were you there?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, I was there," Jan admitted and then added, "I was the lady in the back."

"Immediately something broke inside me" Jan said. "Like the shattering of a Waterford trophy, the breaking was irreparable, the prize irreplaceable. How badly I wanted to take back the words, but the secret was out. Over the next few moments of conversation, I received the praise of a lovely woman who thought it was 'really great' that I had had the courage to stand up when everyone else was sitting down--we're not that kind of church. But her praise was like a painful cacophony compared to the beauty of God's voice when I had contented myself with his approval. There is no way to describe what I lost that day."

Lord, help me always seek obedience rather than applause.

"Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:4).

Today's Prayer Request
Please pray that the Holy Spirit will draw each one who should come to the conference and that He will remove every hindrance.

I heard Major Marilyn Aldrich relate the following at a Salvation Army women's camp. "After Larry, a high school classmate, learned that I attended the Salvation Army Sunday School, he began teasing me during our forty-minute bus ride to school. 'Hey Marilyn, is that a new dress from The Salvation Army store?' and 'Put a nickel on the drum and save another drunken bum' were his favorite jibes."

When Marilyn told her minister, he suggested, "Every time he harasses you, quote a Bible verse to him."

So the next morning when Larry made an irritating comment, she calmly replied, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV).

His taunts grew louder but Marilyn would not back down. Sometimes she would quote 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (KJV). The more Larry tormented her, the more she poured on Bible verses. "I had to learn more verses," Marilyn laughed, "but I most often quoted John 3:16 or 1 John 1:9."

Twenty years later Marilyn attended her high school reunion. When several told her, "Larry is looking for you," her heart sank. She determined to avoid him.

But Larry found her and Marilyn sat in amazed silence as he told his story. "I became an alcoholic and lost everything-my business, wife, children. One night I drove to the country with a gun determined to commit suicide. I was holding the gun to my head when all of a sudden I began to hear your voice saying, 'For God so loved the world....' The amazing thing was that I had never gone to church and never read a Bible, so hearing the Scripture in my memory got my attention. When I put the gun down I heard the other scripture, 'If you confess your sins....'" Larry drove to town heading for the first church he could find open, went in, knelt down, and found forgiveness.

Dear Jesus, help me to believe that You have a good purpose for not removing troubling situations.

"How great is your goodness which you have stored up for those who fear you" (Psalm 31:19).