'THE WHEELS OF FORGIVENESS' Garris Elkins
- Global Prophetic Voice
- Jul 22
- 1 min read
Yesterday, I stopped at a gas station and began to pump gas into my pickup. An attendant working the pumps came out to check in with me. As the fuel continued to fill my tank, we struck up a casual conversation. For some reason, the subject of marriage came up. She asked how long I had been married. I said, “Fifty-two next month. August 25.”
As soon as the attendant heard me share that number, she asked how we did it. I told her it was because we had learned how to forgive each other. I also said that forgiveness only happens in an honest and transparent relationship. Transparency and openness are not for the timid of spirit. It can be a brutal moment in an honest relationship.
Most of the time when I was a pastor and counseled couples whose marriage was in trouble, I could trace their division back to something that remained unforgiven between spouses. All our following conversations would be aimed by the Spirit to touch on that issue.
Each time, when Jan and I take communion together in our home, we pause and release forgiveness to each other. Doing this prepares our hearts to receive communion, and it also opens our hearts to hear the Lord.
That’s one reason why, by God’s grace alone, and not by our performance, Jan and I are still together and loving Jesus as a spiritual team after so long. The wheels that roll a marriage into the future for the long haul are forgiveness. Pursue it at all costs.
Garris Elkins
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