FORGIVE

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in thewoods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were notright. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job.

His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him. Heremembered family who had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had,that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment, andfrustration.

Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing allelse had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one heknew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed: 'Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have toldme to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed.

Today, you have told me toforgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot. I don't know how. It is notfair Lord, I didn't deserve these wrongs that were done against me and Ishouldn't have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing Icannot do, for I don't know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, Ifear I may not hear you, but I pray you teach me to do the one thing I cannotdo: Teach me to forgive.'

As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt somethingfall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, hesaw something red on his shirt. He could not turn to see what it was becausewhere the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground. Heraised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike throughthem. He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging ona cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and batteredbody, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain onHis precious face. As their eyes met, the man's tears turned to sobbing, andJesus began to speak. 'Have you ever told a lie?' He asked?

The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' 'Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?' The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' And the man sobbed more and more. 'Have you ever taken something from work that wasn't yours?' Jesusasked? And the man answered, 'Yes, Lord.' 'Have you ever sworn, using my Father's name in vain?' The man, crying now, answered - 'Yes, Lord.'

As Jesus asked many more times, 'Have you ever'? The man' s cryingbecame uncontrollable, for he could only answer - 'Yes, Lord'. Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man feltsomething fall on his other shoulder He looked and saw that it was the blood ofJesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was alook of love the man had never seen or known before.

Jesus said, 'I didn't deserve this either, but I forgive you.' It may be hard to see how you're going to get through something, but whenyou look back in life, you realize how true this statement is. Read the following first line slowly and let it sink in. If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you!

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN

I dreamed that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me
around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with
angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said,
'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in
prayer are received..'

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so
many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets
and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long
corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery
Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are
processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them. 'I
noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard
at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were
being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at
the door of a very small station To my great surprise, only one angel
was seated there, idly doing nothing 'This is the Acknowledgment
Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed
'How is it that there is no work going on here?' I asked.

'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the
blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments ..'

'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.

'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'

'What blessings should they acknowledge? ' I asked.

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a
roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this
world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.'
'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the
1% in the world who has that opportunity. '

'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ...
you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this
day .'

'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the
loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of
starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'

'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment,
arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three
billion people in the world .'

'If your parents are still alive and still married ...you
are very rare .'

'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm,
you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double
blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are
more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read
at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass
this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are..

ATTN:
Acknowledge Dept.: 'Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability
to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to
share it with.'

If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you
have been blessed with, how can you not send it on???? I thank God for
everything, especially all my family and friends!!