Forgiveness, hard but necessary

Forgiveness is something I’ve been wrestling with for quite sometime. As a believer and follower of Christ, it is essential to my faith. Forgiveness is something I have been given as a result of Christ’s sacrifice for me (as well as the entire world). It is also something that is required of me as one of God’s children. Forgiveness is also necessary to live a full and healthy life. So why in the world is forgiveness something I find so difficult at times? Is it for you?

Whatever your back ground or beliefs are, whether you are a believer or not, we’ve all been wronged and we all have a choice to forgive or to withhold forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice and it doesn’t usually come easy. We each have a story we could tell, and some are much more painful than others, but regardless of how deep our hurt runs, forgiveness is still and will always be important. Unforgiveness can consume our thoughts, dictate our mood, steal our joy and cripple us. That is why forgiveness is necessary to live a full and healthy life. I’m seriously tired of those struggling with those types of consequences and I refuse to live that way any longer. So what choice do I have but forgive?

Sometimes forgiveness is much more of a journey than a one-time, momentous act. It’s a repeated choice. I don’t know about you but there have been times where I’ve felt that I’ve moved on and have gotten over something, but when I think about how I've been wronged or I’ll run into a particular person the feelings of hurt, anger and even bitterness rise up in me. It is in those moments that I’m reminded how difficult and how much of a process forgiving someone can be. The extremely hard thing about forgiveness is that it hardly ever equals forgetting. The way our mind works, most of the time we will not forget the event that causes so much pain and hurt.

I’ve really prayed about this process of forgiveness. I actually wanted to blog about much “better” and “easier” things, but I keep coming back to this. I know it’s because of where I’m at in life, what I’ve been through and the healing that’s taking place in me even now. Forgiveness is big and there is so much to say about it. I really feel led to write a series of blogs on this topic. I would like to talk more about why forgiveness is necessary as well as what forgiveness actually is: things like longing for justice, forgiving those who should’ve never hurt us, forgiving ourselves, why forgiveness is always possible and even experiencing the Ultimate forgiveness.

I hope you will take this journey with me and please share your own thoughts. I don’t have all the answers but I’m definitely seeking the Answer. I would love to say that I am a very forgiving person, that I never hold a grudge and that I’m always quick to forgive but that isn’t the case. I think if we are all honest, most of us struggle with that. But I am hopeful that as I journey through this, that I will come out of it much more freer to forgive.