Tough Love

I will admit, I had a tough time deciding if I would actually write this post but I decided I will...(obviously, since I am writing it!). 

"Tough Love"-- I am sure most of us have heard that saying more than once in our lifetime. I know I am reminded of tough love all the time. Have you ever been mad at someone you love? Or even someone you just know? Let's be honest, we all have. We all get mad. Recently, I have been stuck in a situation where all I can do is love even though I don't want to. I have these people in my life that I take energy into ignoring and not loving. It exhausts me, as it should. Yesterday, I had a big wake up call to love those certain people. I guess I have some things to work on ;-).

In particular, there is this one person. One person. One person. (Get the point?) So, there is this one person that I love but lately that love has turned to hate. Not the nice "hate" word dislike but hate. I don't hate them...let me get that across to you...but, I hate their actions towards me. I am really bad at lying so my emotions throughout this roller coaster have been evident and I am pretty sure that this person knows I am upset with their actions. The problem is that I have forgiven this person multiple times and every time I end up getting hurt again. It's like a cut that keeps getting deeper and deeper each time. Last week, I was done. Done, with this person and done with this friendship. I wanted to forget that this person was even in my life at all. I wanted to ignore them. But, then I was reminded that the way I wanted to treat them wasn't the right way at all. I went to my church, sat on a blanket in the parking lot, looked at the cross and prayed. I didn't know what was going to happen. I HAD to be nice. I see this person every where. This person was close to me. Even though they had hurt me, I had to love them and I didn't understand. I opened my Bible and literally, I saw this verse and broke down. My heart broke, my mind exploded, and well...I'm still living. The verse is from Matthew 18:21-22: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, " I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

That verse got to me. I must forgive this person. I must talk to this person. I must love this person. Even though I don't want to forgive this person, I have to. I feel like it is the right thing to do... I don't want to be close with this person again and I hate to forgive because I fear getting hurt again. Right now, I am worried with how this situation will go down. I don't have to be super close with everyone. I just have to love them for who they are and that is all I am going to do.

We all have this person. We do. I challenge you to love that ONE person in your life that is tough to love. We can do this together because two are better than one!! :)