Forgiveness Brings Freedom - Episode 13

Your freedom is waiting for you.

It's important to understand that in order to receive it, there may be something that you need to let go of first.

Almost every one of us is upset with at least somebody...and sometimes that person is even ourselves.

Sometimes, it's other people.  Sometimes, it's God.

The Resentment…The Bitterness…The Heartache.

It’s all going to go away.

You’ve been trapped into holding onto offenses for too long.

But it is time.   You have to let go.  You have to forgive.

It's time to be FREE.

Transcript

EP 13: Forgiveness Brings Freedom

[00:00:00] Justin: Hi, everyone. This is Justin Olbrantz. And this is Don Schaefer. And you are listening to the wise and the wandering podcast for those who know the way and for those who are led astray. And if you feel like you fall into either of those categories, then you're in the right place. So let's dive in.

[00:00:31] Justin: So Don, what are we going to talk about today? Well, I think 

[00:00:34] Don: we're going to talk 

[00:00:35] Justin: about forgiveness brings freedom. Forgiveness brings freedom. That's right. Oh, that's a, that's a tough one. That is. That 

[00:00:42] Don: is. You know, so that means that we're locked up or we're not free until we find forgiveness. Yes. 

[00:00:48] Justin: We, we are maybe enslaved to something.

[00:00:51] Justin: Yes. We are indebted to something. Something's got a hold of us. Right, and we need, we need freedom. And um, I would say, speaking of [00:01:00] forgiveness, I hope that our listeners right now have some forgiveness over us. Because if you're following along, it's been roughly, what, four weeks? 

[00:01:09] Don: It's been a good piece.

[00:01:09] Don: Since 

[00:01:10] Justin: actually putting out an episode? Yeah, it's been a good piece. And, um, mainly this was because of, moving our production of our microphones and stuff back from Florida into Wisconsin, where we record these episodes. 

[00:01:23] Don: Yeah. 

[00:01:23] Justin: Um, but also if you've been following along and earlier episodes and you knew my.

[00:01:30] Justin: Mother's, uh, journey through cancer and some of the, , times that I mentioned that my mother did sadly pass away in, uh, late February. So that's also a process that I've been dealing with, grieving process, and, you know, that's been a struggle in itself to, you know, put together podcast episodes, but nonetheless, we persist.

[00:01:54] Justin: And because of that, I will be having an episode and then maybe not near future, but in the [00:02:00] future that deals with grieving. And, uh, we'll talk about that more, but for now, we're going to talk about forgiveness. 

[00:02:06] Don: That 

[00:02:06] Justin: is the topic at hand. And this is going to be a three part series. So we're gonna do a three part series.

[00:02:13] Justin: This is a little different than what we've done in the past on the podcast here. But we're gonna have a three part series, which is going to be Highlighting all different aspects on ways that forgiveness can bring freedom and focus and fruit to your life You like that F alliteration. I Like the alliterations.

[00:02:33] Justin: I tend to stay with those. So yeah, we're gonna talk about that. So I guess we'll get right into it. Forgiveness is a hard thing. It really is. Forgiveness is something that I think that uh, Everybody needs in their life. And uh, I guess Don, in your perspective, in your boomer perspective, right? What does forgiveness mean to you?

[00:02:52] Don: Well, , Justin, forgiveness for me is, you know, If you get in a situation where you've been wronged or somebody's [00:03:00] hurt you in some way or so, whatever the circumstance might be, sometimes you get an attitude, you know, things start to happen inside you, and you know, you're just not free. You don't have the freedom.

[00:03:11] Don: You look at a young child. Until , they've had issues against them, you know, they're free and they're happy and all this but Unforgiveness bottles itself up inside and yeah, you know the message I know we have here I think is a message that a lot of people are comfortable not knowing because they don't want to do anything in their life But, you know, to have true freedom, you have to understand how important forgiveness really is and what it can do because you have an inner enemy inside you that sometimes bind you up and it keeps you from being the person that you were meant to be.

[00:03:46] Don: And, uh, you know, a lot of times just walking in life, I can see where people are dealing with this by their attitudes, by their facial expressions, sometimes the way they walk, you know, unforgiveness. unforgiveness. It [00:04:00] really harms an individual and people 

[00:04:02] Justin: walk around with it on their, on their face. 

[00:04:04] Don: They do.

[00:04:05] Don: They do. You know, and I know Jesus himself, he said he came to set the captives free. Yeah. Well, you know, in scripture, it doesn't show him going to all the prisons and getting the doors opened up. No, he, what he did is he spoke. And this is one element, I think, that He came to bring mankind, is the ability to forgive.

[00:04:26] Don: Because everything we would want from God, it takes some sort of, Him forgiving us, but also us forgiving Him. Uh forgiving those who have done harm to us And it's a tough spot sometimes for people to be in. 

[00:04:41] Justin: Yeah, I know on a previous episode I made a reference about And it was kind of a strange reference, but it just came to me at the time and it was about How we need to or it was a proposal actually and it was kind of like how we You know Could forgive God, and it was because God forgave us, [00:05:00] right?

[00:05:00] Justin: Because the whole purpose of Jesus coming to the world and dying on the cross was for our forgiveness. And, , I think that just the concept of forgiving God is basically not that you're trying to like put yourself on a pedestal over God, but I'd say it's like a, it's a tool to empathize with your past.

[00:05:24] Don: Yeah, 

[00:05:25] Justin: because I think in order to let go of the past. Yeah, there has to be Forgiveness, but I think a lot of people are strung up from Religious people or certain things that might have happened to them in religious settings.

[00:05:40] Don: Yeah, 

[00:05:40] Justin: and it's caused them to To, like you said, have that bitterness, that resentment, and they need forgiveness. They need freedom. And I just wanted to bring this up because I found this interesting, and I read this in a book somewhere, , but it [00:06:00] said, uh,, the human is the only animal on earth that pays a thousand times for the same mistake So basically we punish ourselves over and over again Every time we are reminded of the mistake the same mistake Yeah, and I think that's so interesting because you know, it said we're the only animal right?

[00:06:21] Justin: So we'll punish ourselves You know, We're the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury in our own mind, and we'll punish ourselves a thousand times for the same exact thing. That's right. You know, when the, when the squirrel falls out of the tree, right, it doesn't hold it against itself and say, man, I was so dumb for falling out of that tree.

[00:06:44] Justin: You know what I'm saying? But yet, but yet we do the same thing to ourselves over and over again. Yeah. So I think one of the areas that we find freedom. Is by forgiving ourselves and I think this is a little bit, uh, sometimes easier said than done but I think [00:07:00] that when you can be Accountable for everything that happened in your life and kind of understand that you are the only one who takes account for it Not necessarily saying that you deserved what happened And not necessarily speaking against boundaries that you've created because of things that happened in your past.

[00:07:19] Justin: But when you can be fully accountable and know that, you know, you were forgiven by God and there is grace for you, you can forgive yourself and , you can let go and move forward. This is 

[00:07:31] Don: true. Yeah, this is true. And like you had mentioned a little bit, About, , people that condemn other people. 

[00:07:37] Justin: Yeah.

[00:07:37] Justin: And 

[00:07:37] Don: sometimes, you know, we have a part of our world that thinks that they've got the corner on God. So they can, they can judge everybody and condemn anybody they want. And sometimes it creates more issues than anything. , the Bible tells us we're supposed to love our neighbors and treat them kindly.

[00:07:54] Don: And, , and, but a lot of times, like you're saying there, Justin, there is unforgiveness that gets built up [00:08:00] inside of a person. And, we're We are never really at peace with ourselves because you're talking about being able to forgive ourselves because God didn't make us perfect. You know, He made us to make mistakes, right?

[00:08:12] Don: And we're good at it. You know, we're good at making mistakes. We're good at doing things wrong. Sometimes I find if there's two ways of doing it, I always do it wrong first time. You know, it seems like a You just fall into it 

[00:08:22] Justin: happens to me, too. Yeah, 

[00:08:23] Don: but when you get into a place where not only do you forgive yourself But you can forgive those that are around you and I think jesus was came to be an example That is one area that was brought and given to us because up until that time The jews hated the romans and the romans hated the samaritans and the gentiles and all this there was constant conflict going on Yeah But Jesus came and he brought love.

[00:08:48] Don: Uh, no matter how poorly he was treated, I know on the cross, he says, forgive them father for they know now what they do. You know, forgiveness is huge in our lives and we get ourselves all [00:09:00] bound up in it. We, you know, it's the greatest enemy we have is unforgiveness because there's all the things that.

[00:09:06] Don: A lot of times people struggle with, you know, you get into alcohol, you get into, you know, anger, you get into bitterness. A lot of this stuff is basically unforgiveness because you've been hurt or somebody's done you wrong in some way and you can't forgive them. And the hard thing in the Bible, Justin, is where it talks about the fact that God can't forgive you unless you can forgive your neighbor.

[00:09:31] Don: I mean, that's a sobering thought, you know, because you talk about God coming and forgiving our wrongs, but we have to be able to forgive. And if we can't get ourselves to that point, we're in a tough spot, and that's where a lot of individuals in life, you know, I mean, I hate to say this, but you can go, you can go to church once a week, you know, but if you harbor unforgiveness, And bitterness and all the attributes.

[00:09:55] Don: You're not free. I mean, you, you're trying. You're trying. You're trying. But there is a [00:10:00] release, and that's what Jesus came when he said he came to set the captives free. There is a true freedom in being able to forgive the wrongs done to me. 

[00:10:10] Justin: Yeah. And I think when you get released, you know.

[00:10:13] Justin: When you, when you mentioned being released, I think you're being released from your past. Yeah. A lot of the times things that you've held on to, there's no longer a, a bondage to your past, you know, experiences, feelings, and like any possible trauma that might've been associated with it. I think , forgiveness is uniquely a Christian doctrine itself, right?

[00:10:34] Don: I would think so. 

[00:10:35] Justin: Yeah, I would think 

[00:10:36] Don: so. 

[00:10:36] Justin: And I think even the Bible talks about when Jesus talks about it and he says, um, how often should you forgive your neighbor if he sins against you? Seven times in a day, and you forgive him seven times in that day. 

[00:10:50] Don: Oh yeah. There's no end to it. 

[00:10:52] Justin: Yeah, and that's, uh, yeah, and I think he even says something about 77 times that, uh, you know, seven times, yeah.

[00:10:59] Justin: Yeah, 

[00:10:59] Don: [00:11:00] That was Peter that he was talking to. Peter thought he could get away with only, uh, forgiving a couple times, and then he'd have to justify himself by not forgiving, where Jesus basically said, you gotta forgive no matter what. 

[00:11:13] Justin: Yeah, because you're holding on to something. You're holding on to something, , and because you're holding on to something, you can't receive something.

[00:11:21] Justin: Yeah. Right? So you, you have to let go, and I think that's kind of the point of it is, um, Forgiveness is going to bring freedom into your life. And I think one way of doing that, you know, we're going to just chop this down, right? So one way of doing that is In my opinion, you know, you forgive God, right? If you have any kind of resentment in your heart, if there's a misrepresentation of who God actually is in your life or who you've been taught who God is or who Jesus is, find that forgiveness because he found it for you, right?

[00:11:50] Justin: Then there's forgiving yourself. I think this is often, , Not talked about, and this is often just not thought about because we think of forgiveness of always just having [00:12:00] to forgive other people. Um, but there is, if, like you said, if there's forgiveness in your heart in some kind, it's, it's going to stop you.

[00:12:08] Justin: That, that is some kind of, there's some bondage there. If there's any kind of, Unforgiveness. So if it's something that happened to you in your past, if there's something that there's a very unfortunate situation that you've been through in your life, 

[00:12:23] Don: then 

[00:12:24] Justin: you just have to forgive yourself and understand that you can move forward.

[00:12:29] Justin: That's true. I think then the third part is forgiving other people. 

[00:12:33] Don: Yeah. 

[00:12:33] Justin: So there's like a, there's a three part system here, right? , and I think once you, once you have that down, Yeah. That might be one of the hardest ones, to be honest with you, forgiving other people because it is easy to To feel those emotions like you were saying like bitterness.

[00:12:51] Justin: It's it's really easy to just let you know, your anger control you it's easy To let your you know [00:13:00] ego get in the way and even 

[00:13:02] Don: Get even. Yeah, get 

[00:13:03] Justin: even. Exactly. And I guess, um, you talked about earlier a little bit about how unforgiveness manifests, how it, how it manifests itself into anger in your life.

[00:13:15] Justin: I guess talk, let's talk a little bit about anger. What would you want to say about that? 

[00:13:19] Don: Well, yeah. Anger is caused by hurts. You know, and things that have been wrong in your life. And you not knowing how to forgive the offender that has caused all this. But I find that a lot of times, the human life is like a huge warehouse.

[00:13:36] Don: And a lot of times we stack things. You know, this has gone wrong. That's gone wrong. This is, you know, pretty soon we got a whole warehouse full of things that are making us angry. Our hurts, our pains, they're all stacked up. We've got them inventoried. We've got them labeled. We sit back and we think about all this.

[00:13:53] Don: That's where I know going 

[00:13:54] Justin: down 

[00:13:55] Don: the road. Sometimes you see people that get into road rage. You [00:14:00] know, we're doing some stupid stuff on the road. Yeah, I can't say 

[00:14:02] Justin: that's ever happened to me before. 

[00:14:05] Don: But you get into that and you wonder what, where the root cause was. Was this something that happened just on the road or were they primed up for it?

[00:14:13] Don: Have they stacked enough hurts and pains inside of them that they are a walking time bomb? You know, and that's what anger is. It's a it's a walking time bomb. An individual that has been injured in life, and that's all it takes is one situation because you don't want to be around these individuals that are walking time bomb.

[00:14:31] Don: They do crazy stuff, you know, and all of a sudden they see red, you know, and that's where they're not free. You know, I mean, , they have a hard time being happy. They have a hard time being, you know, just comfortable with themselves because they've got all this warehouses. It's all stacked up, you know, and that's where Jesus says, I want to clean out that warehouse because you'll never be free.

[00:14:53] Don: God will never set you free unless you can learn how to forgive. You come to God for forgiveness because you know you did [00:15:00] wrong. But you have to be able to forgive those who have offended you too. And, uh, it's hard for a lot of people. 

[00:15:06] Justin: Yeah, it's, uh, it's been hard for myself. I can honestly say that anger used to manifest itself a lot in my life.

[00:15:15] Justin: Yeah. Yeah before I was saved. Yeah, me too. I used to Yeah, I used to go into I would say bouts of rage and I had some definitely Unpleasant times things that I maybe said and did that I am not proud of but getting back to that point It's forgiving yourself. Yeah, because i've already been forgiven for those things, right everything anything that What has happened to me in my past, anything that I've said and done, I'm forgiven for.

[00:15:48] Justin: Because I've found that relationship with God in my life. Yeah, I found that relationship with Jesus 

[00:15:54] Don: Yeah, 

[00:15:54] Justin: and I think that's you can't fully forgive other people the [00:16:00] right way unless you have that relationship with Jesus I think so because Jesus Jesus helps you Like you were saying, the whole purpose of him coming, uh, to the world and saying, I've come to set the captives free.

[00:16:13] Justin: I mean, that, that, , uh, that phrase has multiple meanings, but one of it, one of them is to completely, , break those yolks, break those strongholds that have been held over you. Um, and, and break those feelings of resentment and anger and sadness and depression and all these things that are kind of.

[00:16:35] Justin: Branching off of a root cause of unforgiveness. 

[00:16:39] Don: Yeah. 

[00:16:40] Justin: And I think that, , it's just very important to, uh, to keep that in mind because there's so much freedom. There's so much, we're going to talk more in the next couple episodes about once you get out of this bondage and now you have a new life.

[00:16:54] Justin: heightened focus. You know, you have a new level of focus in your life and you can really start focusing on things. But [00:17:00] up until then, you're, you're kind of stuck and you can go your entire life. You can go your entire, entire life. Living in unforgiveness. That's 

[00:17:10] Don: right. That's right. Yeah, and that's where I know the Bible tells us that if we want to come to God that we have to Forgive, you know The Bible says that whenever you stand praying forgive if you have anything against anyone So that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses So, I mean if I'm harboring anything against anyone You know, and I'm supposed to be coming to a place of prayer and a place where God is supposed, see, we give an opportunity for God to show up, you know, and , it's, it's a process.

[00:17:44] Don: That's the beauty of life. You know, you study the processes, you study the patterns, you know, and you find that it's all about finding ways to forgive. And like Justin was, like you were mentioning earlier about being able to forgive yourself. Yeah. You'll never have [00:18:00] peace. You'll never have a happiness until you can come to God and allow yourself to be cleansed Forgive me Lord for the things I do but it's it's that guy next door It's the it's what the way he lays his trash can the way he breaks his leaves all this stuff You know, you start harboring these attitudes and that's where God is trying to say, you know, if I'm gonna live with you You know if I'm gonna show up you better learn how to love your neighbor and be able to Forgive those who have wronged you in any way.

[00:18:31] Don: I know myself, I, uh, You know, a lot of times people do me wrong. And they got bad attitudes or whatever. And I always say, God bless them. You know, I mean, I, I am not going to get upset over this. They are who they are. You know, like Jesus has forgiven them for they know not what they do. They don't know.

[00:18:48] Don: They don't know, you know, how to handle their life and the things they do, but, and they're, they're dumping their garbage all over the place. But now if I harbor any type of, uh, bitterness, anger or [00:19:00] whatever, and I'm not forgiving towards that individual, you know, I'm expecting God to show up in my life.

[00:19:07] Don: You know, the Bible says He doesn't do that. You know, and that's where we have to watch the patterns, we have to watch our lives. Because if we can't get ourselves into loving people, no matter who they are and what they do, you know, it's hard. The Bible talks about we keep, you know, , coals on top of the heads of people that have wronged us.

[00:19:26] Don: And the way we do that, we do kind things. Because I remember my daughter when she was young and this one, somebody was doing something. Well, you need to treat that individual. Buy her a candy bar or something. And, uh, and she says, Dad, I can't do that. You know, because this guy here is doing this and that.

[00:19:43] Don: But it changes things. When you start to love your offender, You know and forgive your offender it changes a relationship and she did that and she had probably She's still friends with some of these girls. 

[00:19:55] Justin: Yeah, and like you were saying that I mean that's tough and that's something that [00:20:00] Once you do it, I mean, once you do anything that involves having freedom on the other end, it's going to be tough.

[00:20:06] Justin: It's not going to be an easy process. Being, you know, what's easy is sticking with what you're already doing and, and running from your problems, avoiding, avoiding the issue at its core and, and where it starts, right? So where, where it was allowed to fester and grow into a whole different beast. Would often, , I would even like to say you talked about you just can't have, you can't harbor any kind of, uh,, Anger towards anybody in order to, , successfully, you know, walk in peace and just, um, I, I would say live a peaceful life, right?

[00:20:45] Justin: But, you know, we almost all have, almost all of us have one person that we are angry with. And, With some of us, it's ourselves. Really, we can be our worst, our own [00:21:00]worst critic. We can speak, you know, self talk. The way we talk to ourself and our minds is often a reflection of the way we speak about other people.

[00:21:12] Justin: When you see someone and the way they insult people, maybe it's on like social media or something like that, the way they insult people and the way they judge people is often the same. , it's a, it's a mirror image of how they actually judge themselves and how they insult themselves. They are very hard on themselves and, There's a barrier there, and, and that, that forgiveness can completely change your perspective.

[00:21:41] Don: It can 

[00:21:42] Justin: completely change your mindset from a negative to a positive. And like you were talking about attitudes, it'll completely change your attitude. And sometimes it takes being the person that Is the bigger person sometimes it takes being the bigger person It takes being the person that [00:22:00] says like you were saying loving your offender in some case, uh some situations that can be tough but But that could spark something so beautiful Just by finding a way to do that to be the person that initiates that and says you know what?

[00:22:14] Justin: No, i'm no longer gonna let this rule over me. I'm no longer gonna let this Have a hold over me in my life because i'm the only one You Who this is keeping up at night, you know, the person maybe that offended me or the person that, uh, was on the other side of this, that they're not losing sleep at night.

[00:22:32] Justin: I'm the only person. I'm the only life that's being affected to this point. That's true. So it might be time to just take accountability and, and, you know, Find that forgiveness for that person or yourself and then just move on. 

[00:22:45] Don: Yep, but this is not easy 

[00:22:47] Justin: You know, 

[00:22:48] Don: this is a battle going on. We we look at the ugliness of war 

[00:22:53] Justin: Yeah, 

[00:22:53] Don: you know a lot of people say war is h e double l, you know And that that is so true and and [00:23:00] like you're saying so many times we get comfortable in our own skin We you know our issues our problems and stuff.

[00:23:07] Don: We just don't do anything about it You know, it's just the way I am, you know, and that's where the The beauty of the gospel, the good news saying there is something better than that, but it isn't going to be an easy, easy ride. I mean, you have to really want this. You really have to want to be free. You really have to cry out and say, you know what?

[00:23:26] Don: I just do not like what's happening. What I feel inside of me, there is a battle going on between my ears. I got people talking to me. I got, I got myself talking to me. I got dark spots in my life, you know, where I think dark things. Jesus came to solve all that because the more unforgiveness we get, everybody's our enemy.

[00:23:46] Don: We're constantly, instead of walking into a room looking for the good things in people, we're looking for the bad things in people. You know, it gives us a whole different outlook in life. And that's a hard life to live, but we get comfortable. You know, our [00:24:00] society, a lot of people are very comfortable. A lot of people are losing, are taking their own lives because they don't know how to forgive and how to set themselves free in these areas.

[00:24:10] Justin: Yeah, it's so sad. And, uh, I guess, , I would just wrap that up to say that on the other end of that forgiveness is your freedom. You know, and it's just it's it's going to be something that maybe feels like stepping out. It's going to feel different It's going to feel like a chore. It's going to feel like work.

[00:24:30] Justin: Yeah, because it is. Yeah, because there is a spiritual element to that and there is Powers that are trying to keep you stuck in that predictable state of just responding the same way to the same things and falling into the same patterns and the same destructive habits. That's right. And it's a matter of, um, beating that and going against that because you want to be free.

[00:24:54] Justin: You don't want to live in slavery, mental slavery. I feel like, you know, our, when [00:25:00] we talk about being in enslaved or being in bondage, you're mind becomes like a mental prison 

[00:25:07] Don: when you 

[00:25:07] Justin: just repeat these offenses over and over in your mind and you hold them over yourself and you hold them against other people and there's certain things that allow you to not let go of that.

[00:25:19] Justin: So on the other end of that forgiveness is your freedom. 

[00:25:24] Don: It really is. It really is. And that's where we really have to, this is an action message. This isn't an information message. You know, it's an action. It requires action on our parts. You know, and I know myself, I need to examine when I get my attitudes, when I get my anger, you know, why is this?

[00:25:41] Don: What am I not doing? You know, is there people that are wrong in me and am I hanging on to the pain of this or am I learning how to forgive them realizing that they don't really realize that they don't know they're harming me or they've been hurt themselves so they continue hurting people, you know, but it's never going to end [00:26:00] in my life.

[00:26:00] Don: I'm never going to be free unless I let the one that sets people free, set me free. And the only way I can do that is ask for forgiveness and learning how to forgive. 

[00:26:12] Justin: Yeah, ask and you shall receive. That is absolutely right, Justin. Seek and you shall find. Yep. Yeah, and I think that's the way of going about it.

[00:26:20] Justin: And I would just say, Don, out of, Your entire lifetime just to ask you a question here. I guess tell me one thing Out of all of your experiences that you've learned about forgiveness. 

[00:26:36] Don: I've learned about forgiveness Okay. Well, you know, I've learned it in my personal life Personal life that, uh, I've learned about being free in life and having a positive attitude and being joyful, keeping smiles on my faces because there was a time where I didn't know some of this stuff and people bothered me, you know, and I was afraid to go [00:27:00] places because I was afraid to get hurt, you know, now I have no problems talking to people are going places because there is a freedom.

[00:27:07] Don: I can go wherever I want. I don't have to wake up in the morning saying, you know what, I better, nobody better cross me today because man, you know, I, I get hurt easy, you know, and I don't get offended like I used to, you know, like you could offend me. See, when you're walking where you need to be in God, you don't get offended.

[00:27:27] Don: You know, people can say what they want. God bless them. They can say what they want, you know, but you don't walk away with an attitude and hurting and pain and it wrecking. That's why I tell people you're not going to wreck my day because I used to , I used to take care of parts and stuff at my company and I get phone calls and they'd say, Don, I'm going to ruin your day.

[00:27:44] Don: I said, you think you're going to ruin my day? I said, I don't think so because I have to allow you to wreck my day. You can't do it. You know, and that's where I, you know, I learned an attitude where I didn't allow people to rain on my parade. You have total 

[00:27:57] Justin: control over things. I 

[00:27:58] Don: did. You 

[00:27:59] Justin: know, [00:28:00] because.

[00:28:00] Justin: Because you have help from above, you know, there's a relationship there where I think there's that piece that you carry with you So yeah, nobody can take that from you. 

[00:28:09] Don: No, and it makes everybody around you feel good about themselves I mean, it's it's more than just you if you allow you to be fixed You help other people to be fixed too.

[00:28:20] Don: It just creates an atmosphere And that's the beauty of forgiveness, the freedom of forgiveness. And there isn't a lot of people that are totally free. There are a lot of attitudes. I know we're living in times right now. There's a lot of stuff going on in our world right now. It shows all the bondage that people are in.

[00:28:40] Justin: Yeah, we're living in a lot of bondage. There's a lot of crazy things happening in the world. I would say this is a good perspective on how forgiveness can bring you out of a life of suffering and setback and decline and bring you to a life of [00:29:00] abundance.

[00:29:00] Don: Yeah. 

[00:29:01] Justin: And prosperity and peace and peace. And I think that's the ultimate goal. So. So I think next week we'll talk about how that piece brings you into a greater focus to start really bringing fruit into your life.

[00:29:16] Don: That sounds good, Justin. 

[00:29:17] Justin: Well, I think that wraps it up for today. This was a good one, Justin. I think so too. Hey, we're glad you guys found your way here today. And we hope you can join us again next week for another good word. Until then, stay blessed. By the best. See you [00:30:00] guys.