Psalm 130:3-5
If You, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve You.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in His word I put my hope.
Forgiveness has often been the subject-matter here on my blog. Anyone who lives on earth will be given the opportunity to offer forgiveness on a daily basis.
I recently shared that we also have to give up our RIGHT to be angry. Even though someone’s actions might deserve our anger, we have the choice to lay it down.
I am on a journey for complete freedom in all areas. God has shown His light in certain areas and I am moving forward with what I understand. One thing that surprised me was the pain I still felt associated with some areas I believed I had forgiven.
Warning: If you are still emotional over an old wound — IT ISN’T HEALED.
Apparently I was good at burying my hurts … pushing them deeper and deeper into the secret places of my heart. I didn’t even realize I did it. I guess it was a coping mechanism I learned from a young age. My friend and I were discussing this yesterday and she felt I should write letters to each person who has ever hurt me, so I did.
I began each letter: You hurt me when …. I poured out all of the feelings from that wound onto the paper.
I ended each letter: I forgive you. I choose to forgive you and move forward in my life. I release you. Then I burned the pages. Eleven pages to be exact — front and back.
I really felt I had forgiven everyone who had hurt me. My will was to forgive them, but I hadn’t dealt with the pain or the emotions behind the pain. Apparently that is important too.
It was a great exercise and I suggest you do it as well.
So now, I wait upon the Lord. My whole being waits and I put my hope in His Word.
I am on a mission to remove any blockage that keeps my heart from feeling the unconditional love of my Abba Father. I want to feel His love washing over me like a waterfall.
Please enjoy this song by Jesus Culture: Your Love Never Fails: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEI-JAYLT84
I am linking with sweet Barbie for her Weekend Brew. Please visit her by clicking on her button below:
Oh girl, this is s step toward healing. It helps to bring all of these feelings to the service, and the release those who hurt us. The longer we hold onto unforgiveness, the longer it takes for us to walking in freedom and wholeness. Blessings!
Dear Beth
Oh, I understand your heart on this one, dear friend! I know we cannot forgive from the heart the way our Pappa wants us to, but that is the beauty of His life. As we live in Him, He does it in and through us! And the more I allow Him to open old wounds, the more I experience healing, forgiveness and healing in my heart. What I find the most difficult, is to forgive myself for how I have hurt others.
Much love
Mia
Beth, this is a great post and what I needed to read. This is an exercise I used to give my clients. One thing that I learned when lack of forgiveness was ruining my health is that I needed to ask God to forgive them, too. I was holding on to the hope that someday God was going to really get them good. That makes me laugh now. 🙂 It’s so freeing to ask Him to have mercy, too. God’s blessings on you and your family!
I always find that I must seek forgiveness for holding on to the hurt and anger…to remember that although I sinned against such a great God as He, He was rich in mercy before I even asked…how can I not offer that to those around me?
May your heart be at peace and may He begin His mighty work of restoration in the relationships that were broken.
I like your idea of writing the letters to each person that hurt you. I thought you were going to say mail it (i was gasping for a minute there) because the other person may not receive it in an intimate sincere way and actually will blow things up and make it worse. But then you said to burn it. I like that, because it is between you and God and actually that other person may have ALREADY gone on with his/her life. I struggle with forgiveness because I have this incredible talent of holding on to memories or unkind words that someone had said to me YEARS ago and I can relive it just like it just happened yesterday. I ask God for healing of bad memories and forgiveness of others.