“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.” -Earl Nightingale •
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Forgiveness is such a freeing experience-
to forgive someone and to be forgive. Have you ever wanted to be forgiven from someone for so long? Years, perhaps? Is forgiveness the same as acceptance? If I forgive someone, it doesn’t necessarily say I accept their actions. •
I have wanted to be accepted by husband’s side of the family for as long as I have been married to him. I have never felt accepted. I have always felt like an outsider, looking into a family that doesn’t want me to feel like I belong. Feeling a sense of belonging is very important in a family. When we got married (21 years ago), I was so excited to have a “sister” that was my age! I grew up with a brother so I always wondered what it was like to have a sister! I actually was getting a brother and two sister in-love’s and I was so excited! I never had a large family growing up and my husband’s family was quite large in comparison to mine! Quite often they got together for cook-outs, birthday’s and holiday’s. I was ecstatic but at only 17 years old, I was getting accustom to having large family gatherings but always looked forward to the time we spent with them! Over the years, as we began having children, I wanted my girls to have a sense of family and be surrounded by them, often! I wanted them to feel a sense of belonging in their family and where they came from! The more I wanted that for them, the less I feel like I was made to feel like an outsider. It came to a point to where we just decided to stay away from his side of the family because we didn’t want our children to see how they treated me. How they treated me was wrong and we didn’t want our children to think it was ok to treat people that way. I don’t even know if they realize how much it has affected me over the years. Not feeling wanted in your own family, hurts! We have been praying about it and are hoping that as the relationships begin to mend, that God and time can help heal. I want my children to always grow up around family! Cousins, aunts and uncles are all so important in (continued in comments)
