“Mom! Mom! Call 911! Now! Dave fell off his bike and his head is bleeding bad. Help!”
The chilling screams of a twelve-year-old sister kneeling beside her fallen brother pierced the humid summer evening only to be replaced by loud blasts as blazing lights and sirens filling the road.
“Hurry! Stop the bleeding! Please!”
A quiet calm settled over that little figure and all who stood by. EMTs tended to Dave’s deep wounds, wrapped him warmly, and settled him in the ambulance.
“The bleeding is stopped. He’ll be okay in a few days.”
Is it time for you and me to stop the bleeding and the crying and call “9-1-1 Jesus?”
I’m so aware of the deep wounds we often carry with us day in and day out. It seems so hard for us to forgive those who have hurt us, to recover from life’s occasional punch in the stomach, or to surrender that unfulfilled expectation we had. I have heard my friends say, ”Life’s not supposed to be like this.” Time to call 9-1-1 Jesus.
Just like that 9-1-1 operator, Jesus waits to hear our cry for help. He wants my hurts to be healed so I can go on with my life in peace. When I read the Word of God or devotions, I hear the call to open my heart, dig down deep for those old hurts I have buried, and drag them out and place them at the foot of the cross of our Lord Jesus—and leave them there.
No one says forgiveness is easy, but it is the vehicle for peace in the Lord. Jesus taught us to pray, Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. We are abundantly forgiven and can go to the Lord for the strength and direction we need to forgive others in equal abundance.
(Photo courtesy of morguefile and alvimann.)
(For more devotions, visit us at www.christiandevotions.us.)
Barbara Duncan is a child of God who enjoys sharing her Christian faith with other folks. She is a licensed pastor serving in a small Pennsylvania church and a retired high school English teacher. Precious Pearls of Faith, her second published work, was born out of her desire to share thoughts on faith with those who might have the same questions she does and the same desires to explore our beliefs in Jesus Christ.