Yes! I’m here to talk about something really really important in a christian life. Forgiveness is hard to practice but it’s also a must as christians, God called us to do so! If you feel stuck there you don’t need to worry because it’s not an easy road. For many years I have clung to the pain without wanting to forgive who hurt me.
That deep wound that someone caused you
Before I start to talk about forgiveness I’d like to tell you a little bit about my story and what I went through. I’m not here to call out anyone so I’m not going to say any name nor the details of what happened.
When I was around 16 or 17 I fell into a deep black hole of pain. I fell that deep that I felt stuck, I felt like there was no way to go out. I was in a situation where I felt completely lost and hopeless. But the more my wounds opened the more I was ashamed to talk about it. For a long time I thought nobody could help and I thought that I didn’t deserve to be saved.
Now that I think about that period of my life I have a clear vision of my younger self. Now I know why I felt unworthy of saving. Anytime that someone hurt me I thought that I was the cause – I thought that I did something wrong and that was what I deserved. Pain and wounds made me doubt my worth.
This is a little part of my past and it took me many years to realize that I needed to release all the pain and forgive. For a long time I thought that I only needed time to heal, I convinced myself that it was just a matter of time.
What unforgiveness can lead you to
So now that you know a little bit of what I went through you also know my feelings. Keeping all the pain inside can be overwhelming and stressful. And I’m more than sure that God doesn’t want you to feel like that.
But now before diving into How To Forgive and what are the benefits I’d like to share with you the exact opposite. What can grow inside of your heart when you don’t forgive? How do you feel when you don’t let go of the pain?
You’ve probably been there too, you know the feeling of heaviness in your heart. Maybe what you felt/feel is different from my feelings, but here are the common results of unforgiveness:
- Bitterness
- Rejection
- Insecurity
- Fear
These were some of the things that I felt when I thought that the only thing that I needed was time. But let me tell you that waiting for time to do its job is just a waste. More time I waited and more I felt the pain.
I don’t know if you noticed but the four things I listed above have one thing in common. All the four of them are feelings that YOU feel when you don’t forgive. So I hope you understand that when you don’t forgive you are the one who will receive all the consequences.
How to forgive?
We are finally at this point… how can we forgive someone? Where do we start to forgive?
Those questions are interesting and the answer is in the Bible – God teaches us how to forgive in his Word. You have to want to forgive to succeed in it, because forgiveness is not a feeling but is a commitment. When you know that is the step that you want to take then you need to put it before God, you ask Him to help you. We are not able to forgive someone with our strength only, we need God’s hand to help us.
I’m sorry if you expected something more exciting than this, but I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.
As a conclusion I want to repeat to you that you don’t need to clung to all your pain. Let God heal all your wounds because after it you will find freedom. And I’m not saying this because it sounds good but I proved it on my own skin. Remember that forgiveness doen’t protect us from being hurt but it helps us to not live in that hurt.
