Devotions Today

This morning I was doing my daily devotions and prayer time. I was praying for my family because we are going through a lot right now. I was reflecting on all the people and all the ways that they are behaving. I prayed for a handful of people that seem to have a permenant chip on their shoulders... and then I opened my devotional book to today's lesson. Here's what I read:

Everything that a person experiences leaves a mark on him or her. Deep within, without a person's being aware of it, there are all kinds of hidden scars, urges, and memories. They are below the threshold of consciousness, and when they do rise above it they become distorted. They put on a false face and appear as something quite different from what they really are. The only cure is to get what is hidden out into the open, in its true form and figure, so that it can be honestly dealt with and faced for what it is.
The Christian experience of the forgiveness of sins and of a rebirth to a new life of selflessness, love, and confidence constitutes the basic cure. Our past is a bondage from which we cannot rid ourselves. Freedom comes only when we face honestly what is and know that, nevertheless, we are loved and accepted. From the new God-relationship of submission flow new powers of freedom.
- Martin J. Heineken