forgiving the big things

Forgiveness is hard.

Sometimes it's backbreaking labor. Forgiving people who refuse to change. Forgiving those who've caused you inexpressible pain. Forgiving people who may never even know how much they've hurt you!

God talks about forgiveness. He knows it's tough! (Have you ever read God's struggle with forgiving his unrepentant people in Jeremiah 5?) But he tells us: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15 NIV)

Doesn't make it easy, though. And some of us find it hard to forgive the smallest little things. Others of us have to find forgiveness for huge, life-changing events.

Here's a video of a PW who is going through the journey of forgiveness right now. Last month, a stranger walked into Cindy Winters' church during the sermon, and shot her PH while he was preaching. They have two children.

Watch CBS Videos Online

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PMS WEEK::FORGIVENESS

There's many reasons we chose "FORGIVENESS" this month. The last few PMS weeks have dealt with things hard to forgive. Things that can turn a PW's life upside down.

I've had a long personal journey with forgiveness. Several years ago a person came into my life and the resulting experiences were shattering. I couldn't avoid her, didn't want to hate her, and yet could find in my heart no ability to forgive.

Every time I was at the point of forgiveness, some new situation tossed me back into the cycle of raging anger, crushing hurt, and gnawing guilt for not being able to just "let it go".

I begged God for the gift of forgiveness. My heart refused to melt. Gradually I distanced myself - and it began to affect other healthy relationships, too.

Recently, this person was diagnosed with a terminal illness. And I've started thinking about my years of fighting against forgiveness. I've been clinging to the desire to make them understand how badly they've hurt me over and over. But now I'm suddenly thinking in a more eternal context.

Can I truly withhold forgiveness? Is it my right? Is it that big of a deal? And in answer to a new prayer - I feel God giving me a desire to forgive. A need to forgive. My story isn't done yet...

What about you? Is there something you need to forgive? We all know that being a PW provides lots of opportunities for practicing forgiveness! But what about that one thing you just can't let go?

Let's talk about it.

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the power of persuasion

It's been a while since we've had a "He Says" post...and that's 'cause we need your husbands to chime in. Now, we all know how busy our PHs are. We all know that they have a to-do list at home that's a mile long (and we're responsible for much of it, yes). But please accept this as your Mission: Impossible assignment. Can you get your PH to guest blog on Clutch? Would it be less painful if he did it via video (using a webcam)? Is there something brilliant on your PH's blog already that we could repost on Clutch? C'mon ladies!

First one to persuade her man to contribute to Clutch gets a ... feeling of accomplishment and admiration from the rest of the PWs... :-)

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um...about yesterday...

Dear friends, readers, fellow-PWs, beautiful ladies,

Yesterday was April 1st, April Fool's Day.

Sarah and I thought that doing a crazy, outlandish, OUTRAGEOUS April Fool's joke would be fun. We thought we would post something that was TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. (Afterall, we're poor PWs just like many of you...)

So we posted an outrageous giveaway of outrageously priced purses for EVERYONE. It seemed like a clever post...sorta believable, sorta not. And then we even asked you ministry-ize the giveaway...

That's the part that got us, ladies. Aside from all the false excitement that we generated (um, getting those emails started to not be so fun, real fast), it broke our hearts to see that so many of you were so thrilled about it and had real ministry needs to share.

The not-so-funny joke is on us. And even our wonderful pastor husbands have scolded us in the Spirit, urging us to abstain from this kind of behavior in the future. We feel really awful that our spontaneous sense of humor may cause anyone to feel let down or disappointed.

And as a make-up offering....


We've entered all of you sweet, sincere ladies who responded to yesterday's post into a random drawing to win this clutch. We shopped for it this morning because we both felt an urgent need to tangibly apologize for our attempt at humor.

This won't make up for your plans for fundraising for your church plant, silent auction, ministering to the sick and soul sick or attracting more people to youth group. But we hope the winner will accept this consolation prize in a spirit of grace and forgiveness. (Not sure if you want your name posted as the winner, so we'll contact you directly via email first.)

Again, we're sorry. We screwed up and we need mercy...

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the biggest giveaway yet!

NOTE: This was our April Fool's Day post. Please read here for the whole story.

Okay girls, you know we love doing giveaways when we can, and we've just worked out the COOLEST giveaway of 4 Coach clutches PER PERSON.

Here's the deal - it's a little complicated, so pay attention. Every PW who comments on a post at least once a week for the entire month of April, will receive 1 Clutch per week. To say it another way, if you comment at least once a week for all 4 weeks, you will receive 4 COACH clutches (max).

One more rule, you must think of a way to use these purses in ministry at your church. Throughout the month we will share these creative ideas with the rest of the readers. So, with your entry, you must provide a brief explanation of how these purses will be used for ministry purposes.

We expect lots of interest in this giveaway, so in order to keep track, we ask that you email us your registration instead of commenting on this post (it's the only way we'll be able to keep track and have the info in our database). Only those who register today will be able to participate in the month-long giveaway. To enter, you need to just email us at clutchtalk@gmail.com with your:

- name
- church name & city
- husband's pastoral role
- best idea for using 4 COACH clutches for creative ministry in your church

No comments below please - only emails will be counted as entries. We will then contact you directly to get your shipping address.

This should be fun and I trust all of you will enjoy your clutches!

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