#ForgiveFamily is the movement. Here’s why.
If I were to write “Love is…” and you had to finish the sentence with one word, what would it be? Comment your answers below!
For me it would be “Love is forgiveness.” How else can we love someone more than always forgiving, no matter the circumstance, no matter the cost?
I wrote this on a board outside of a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ a few months ago. I never thought the seed I planted would grow into such an amazing lesson for me. These last few months have been a roller coaster. Life brought some pain along and I needed to forgive some people in my life. Practice what you preach, right? It’s always easier to say/write something than it is to act it out. As soon as it felt like this pain was at its peak, it was time for my Tuesday night service at “The Porch”. You’ll never guess what the service was about… you guessed it. It’s always amazing that we can see God speak to us in that way. Here is where the story gets even deeper.
We covered forgiveness that Tuesday night and as we walked in we had to pick up a palm-sized rock. This rock resembled a “weight” in our life. When we need to forgive, but don’t, we carry this weight around with us and refuse to let go. It is always with us and as they add up, they can cause us to drown in our own stubbornness and emotions. We can’t do this alone people, never could and never will. At the end of the service, we were told to think of a situation or person we should forgive. As we left we had to drop the rock in a tub and promise ourselves to move forward and forgive. I put my pride to the side and allowed forgiveness in. It was so healing and fulfilling.
A beautiful story during the message came from a very brave and forgiving individual, Rachel Duncan. She was featured in a video during the message and was then asked to pray for us at the end of the night on stage (see the entire night of forgiveness here http://www.theporch.live/messages/5185). Rachel was attacked in her own home by a stranger and had something very valuable taken from her that she had never given away before. She experienced pain and suffering that many of us can’t even imagine, but she still forgave the man. Who am I to hold small and worldly things against people? Who am I to think the things people have done to me are unforgiveable? I challenge you all to think of someone or something you need to forgive. Whatever you are holding inside is only building. Please, let it go before it destroys you. Forgiven people are forgiving people.
That night, the verses we focused on in the message were, “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.'” Matthew 18:21-22. Side note, if you have not read my first blog please go check it out. You will get a taste of how God speaks to me in verses by presenting them over and over in my daily life. This set of verses is a parable for our lives. Jesus never wants us to cap our amount of forgiveness. Whatever your forgiveness limit is multiply it by 11. Once you hit that number, multiply it by 11 again.
As many of you can imagine, that was a powerful and much needed night for me, but it’s not over. Five minutes after the service ended, I walked out to my car and received a notification on my phone as soon as I sat down. A random Instagram company commented on one of my pictures. As I opened my Instagram, I looked at the comment. I received an offer to partner with a company to help spread their movement, forgiving others (#ForgiveFamily). It is hard to explain the feeling that overcame me at that moment. I opened their page to try and convince myself why that was just a coincidence, but God revealed himself even more. The emblem of the company is LXX-VII, better known as 77 (see verses in the above paragraph again). The foundation of the company is based on the same two verses, Matthew 18:21-22. I immediately sent them a message and said, “We need to talk.” I was in planning stages for making my own shirts for fundraising but decided this was probably better than anything I could come up with. So, I am happy to announce I have partnered with a clothing line to assist my fundraising for The World Race mission trip I will be going on for 11 months around the world starting in August.
Interested in checking it out? Visit forgivefamily.org! Every person that visits the website and buys anything with the promo code “tburke” (do not enter the quotations) will be benefiting my fundraising! I pray that you all can see the light in forgiveness and how it can cure this world while so much negativity surrounds us. If you are interested in buying gear and/or posting pictures with it on to help me spread the word of fundraising, please text me, comment below, or visit my Instagram tyburke_ and send me a message.
I love you all. Forgive and forget. God allowed His own son, Jesus, to die on a cross for us so we could be forgiven for all past and future sins. Rachel forgave a man who took something she worked very hard to keep. Be like Rachel. Be. Like. Jesus.
