Column Post by Glenda Harbinson
Miracle Max is one of my favorite characters from The Princess Bride. I love the scene where his wife repeats the name Humperdink at him while he covers his ears and tries not to hear. We reverse that here and playfully use “humperdink” as the word to communicate that we don’t want to hear what is being said.
As I lay in bed this morning thinking of this movie and Miracle Max I was struck by the realization that I have been saying “humperdink” to God. The past few days have been challenging, and while the Bible is clear on what I need to do I have been wanting my own way, letting my own will get in the way, not wanting to listen and allowing that to interfere with my response to what is frequently a difficult situation for me.
Humperdink is a fun game when we play it in our family. It is not only disrespectful but can be a dangerous game when played with God. This morning I am grateful for forgiveness. God’s forgiveness starts everything over fresh and new.
Unlike Miracle Max, God is a God of real miracles! Yesterday He gave me an amazing miracle in the form of a hug. A little autistic boy, normally hidden inside his own private world with little interest in anything outside it, reached out and hugged me.
I believe that hug was a reminder that God can and does still work miracles. Perhaps specifically a reminder to me that I need to be faithful to Him so He can do just that in my life.
I must be willing to offer forgiveness to those who do not ask, to listen to God, even when life hurts more than I have imagined it could. In 2 Cor 1: 8, 9 Paul says:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
We have to walk through hard times so that we don’t rely on ourselves. We have to learn to trust God. God’s forgiveness is always there for us when we stumble, and if we reach out to take His hand He will guide us.
That God loved me enough to go to the cross, and that by doing so my sins are as far away as the east is from the west, is mind-boggling. I stumble, I fall, I reach up and He is right there just waiting for me. It’s amazing.
He wants each and every one of us to find joy in His forgiveness, folks. It’s there just waiting for us to take it.
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P.S. We’d love to know your thoughts, so please be sure to comment below. Each of our commenters will be entered in a drawing for this month’s FREE book giveaway, Mothers & Daughters: Mending a Strained Relationship by author Teena Stewart.
Glenda is a homeschooling mom of four in New Brunswick, Canada. She also fosters one teen and provides respite care and tutoring for another. She and her paramedic husband Mark have been married for 24 years. Glenda’s writings often reflect her personal experience parenting and teaching children with developmental and learning differences, as well as a particular empathy for moms with chronic illness. She blogs at http://pwsmommy.homeschooljournal.net/ and can be reached by emailing glenda.harbinson@gmail.com
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