Holding onto the pain of the past, can destroy you. I learned this only too well. You see, I was deeply hurt by a person I loved with all my heart. I felt the core-piercing pain of betrayal. Too soon, I thought I had to forgive him. I tried. But I had not yet dealt with the pain, the anger, the disbelief, the betrayal of his actions. My early forgiveness was only in words. I thought the feeling was there, but it wasn't. That came much later. At the time I thought I knew what forgiveness meant, but that too, was premature.
A dear friend sent me the following words, which at the time, I thought I understood. It has taken a long, long time for the full meaning of these words to hit home.
"I've been told that first we hurt, next we hate, then we heal ourselves and finally we forgive.
You can't stop your memory or change it to another direction. You cannot forget on command. You have to let the forgetting happen as it will. You can't rush it, nor should we doubt the sincerity of our forgiving if the memory surfaces. The important thing is that you have the power to forgive what you can still remember.
Healing comes slowly. Better in slow-motion than not at all.
The worse you've been hurt the longer it takes to forgive. Minor wrongs heal quickly. However, when you have been hurt to the core of your very being, you can anticipate a longer journey.
Will you still feel angry after forgiveness? Naturally, you can't help it. That doesn't mean you failed at forgiving because you may still get angry that a painful wrong was done to you.
Nothing you can do will erase the past. You can only heal the pain it has left behind.
Forgiveness has begun when you can wish those who hurt you well.
In forgiving someone you choose to live with an uneven score.
There is strength in the power of forgiveness."
- Author Unknown -
I have forgiven the one that hurt me so deeply, along with another person. To hold onto the pain, the anger, the hatred is not healthy. It takes too much energy to maintain those feelings. So I chose to forgive. We humans do make huge mistakes, not necessarily intentionally, but all the same, we make them. And, until we are perfect, thank God for the gift of forgiveness.
I thank God for answering my prayers and helping me to heal from the pain of the past, and especially for the forgiveness He placed in my heart. With true forgiveness comes peace and healing.}
BUT I SAY UNTO YOU: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES! PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU! Matthew 6:44
TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WANT THEM TO TREAT YOU. Luke 6:31
BLESS THEM WHICH PERSECUTE YOU: BLESS, AND CURSE NOT.
Romans 12:14
(Quoted Scripture from THE LIVING BIBLE.)
