healing time

As I sit and ponder on current events that have been going on, I wondered what would be the most meaningful thing I could write about.It passed to my thinking the issue of forgiveness. After all, that is what Christmas is all about. All of us have been hurt. And we know that the people who usually have the power to hurt us the most, are the ones we love. At certain points, we are tempted to take revenge. We are tempted to hate. We are tempted to hide. Yet none of these actions brings us happiness and peace. The only way out of such is to forgive and go on.

Forgiveness is a matter of choice, and forgetting is a process. We may be able to forgive but at certain levels, we still feel the pain. Forgiveness is when you feel deep sense of peace. God knows what happens to people who refuse to forgive. People who refuse to forgive will be bitter. Its like whenever they see or think about the person who has hurt them, they will start to relive the offenses again. Its almost like they build prison around themselves. Thus they end up prisoners of unforgiveness.

DECIDE TO FORGIVE. Forgiveness begins with the act of will. We may not felt like forgiving but we should forgive because God wants us to forgive. We should forgive because we, too, have been forgiven from our sins. Just think about this: God graciously forgave us even when we didn't deserved it.

REMEMBER THAT FORGIVENESS IS A PROCESS. Over time, after we determine to forgive, feelings will follow. Forgiving a person doesn't mean we forget. It means that when we remember, it doesn't hurt as much. Finally, we get to the point when we remember, it doesn't hurt at all.


RENEW TIES WITH THE PERSON WHO HAS HURT US OR WHOM WE HAVE HURT. When we forgive, we become more and more like the person that God intended us to e. NO relationship will thrive without forgiveness. Be ready to extend friendship again.

 
FORGIVENESS is not something we do for OTHER PEOPLE. We do it for OURSELVES to GET WELL and MOVE ON.