That dreaded word and oh so hard to do! FORGIVE~

Forgiving is one of the biggest hurdles in healing. We Forgive…To Learn to Love.

~ love is patient

~ love is kind

~ love does not envy

~ love is not boastful

~ love is not conceited

~ love is not selfish

~ love is not provoked

~ love does not keep a record of wrongs

We are all here on this Earth to learn to LOVE!

 

Forgiving is difficult for most people. It used to be extremely hard for me, until I learned how very important it is. It was just easier to be angry because I was too proud to let go. I was the gal who was easily offended which sidelined me over and over. Finally I learned that we FORGIVE… to be FORGIVEN and it was a life changer!

 

Many of us have that dreadful past which is so difficult to move forward from. Events in our life that we find hard to get past. My parents divorced when I was in high school and it was a stressful and emotional time for me personally. I blamed my father for leaving us because I had to blame someone ~ right?? It took me YEARS and I mean many, many years to really forgive him! Eventually I figured out that without forgiveness, we would not have any salvageable relationships left. How can we love others with a hardened, bitter heart? Bitterness defiles, it does not cleanse.

 

Forgiveness defined:

to let go, give up a debt, forgive, to remit

 

You see unforgiveness affects everything~ your life in faith, your family, and business. In turn, forgiveness is you letting “them” off your hook and putting them on God’s. Living a life of unforgiveness will wear you down. It will cause stress and bitterness and makes you a very unhappy and unhealthy person. In my case it was part of the reason I became ill with Lyme Disease. I was angry with so many people!!

Mad at my Dad for leaving our family.

Mad at the girls who caused drama in my daughters teenage years of life.

Mad at anyone who said anything hurtful to me, my husband or my kids. (I was a sensitive gal!)

Mad at every doctor who could not tell me what was wrong with me and mad at how quick they were to prescribe me a  drug for my vertigo/unbalanced feeling, anxiety, depression, insomnia, fibromyalgia, and more! You know… the “quick fix”!

 

This morning I hooked up with my “Lymie” (friend with Lyme Disease) friend Joan for a walk. We always have a beautiful time of talk and sharing. Today we shared idea’s on what is working for each of us in our journey of healing. Forgiveness was part of our conversation. My friend Joan is a brave one! She is learning to forgive many people in her life who just don’t add positivity or support~ which is a MUST when healing! Joan and I are learning to forgive together and winning the battle of Lyme Disease along with so many others!

 

The ONLY way to heal is to let it GO – all of it!

~I am telling you to forgive every person who has ever hurt you and I will share a few exercises you can do to make it happen!

 

In my FEW group Fellowship of Extraordinary Women I was taught to do the work of S.E.L.F.

S  seeing God clearly despite your life circumstances

E  exercising your mind by being faithful to the WORD

L  loving others when it isn’t to your benefit but to theirs (whatever you want in life you need to GIVE to others)

F  (here’s the BIG ONE) forgiving when you really don’t want to but your willingness made it happen

 

When you’ve done the work of SELF, you can see things others can’t quite see. You can see God in all things, at work for you benefit. You can see his WORD as more real than the world in front of you. You can see others the way GOD sees them and that makes it easy to love them. **You can see a way to forgive…even the unforgivable!!

 

3 Exercises for you!

 

1. Make your list! Ask God and yourself to bring to your remembrance EVERY single person you need to forgive. Pray and release each person…let them off your hook and let their debt be to God alone!
2. Write a note of forgiveness to all, a few or at least one person on your list. You can choose not to sign your note or you can sign it. Mail it to them. It can be as simple as “I forgive you”, or you can explain to them why you forgive them. You will feel the power of forgiveness immediately.
3. If anyone EVER says to you “Oh, no offense” (you know these kind of people and what comes prior to this-some kind of offensive statement right?!)… your mantra or response “None taken”. Say nothing else!

 

Who doesn’t need forgiveness?

Mark 11:25-26

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing. (But if you don’t forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your wrongdoing)”