Forgiveness

Three years ago, a friend said something to me that hurt very deeply. I was speechless. I could not believe she could say that and mean it. When I had no response, she said, "I love you and don't want to see you hurt." My thought was, 'if you love me, how could you say such a terrible thing about someone I love dearly'. But I was still speechless and just couldn't respond.

Days and weeks passed and it still bothered me. I prayed about it a lot and I thought I had forgiven her, but I couldn't forget. Weeks and months went by. I didn't dwell on this, but occasionally after my prayers at bedtime, I would think about it and couldn't seem to clear this from my thoughts. Therefore, I would have a restless night.

Two years passed and I began to doubt that I had forgiven her. I decided I would talk to her about it and tell her how much her words had hurt. Before I could talk to her, I wanted to think about what I would say that wouldn't hurt her. (I'm not really sure she would even remember what she had said to me.)

I prayed about this and asked God to give me the right words to say. After four days of praying about this, I began thinking God wasn't listening to me. Then suddenly it became clear. God had heard and had answered my prayers. The answer was to say NOTHING. JUST FORGIVE. I did -- and a sense of peace came to me. I have had no more restless nights over this.

We all do and say things at time that hurt someone. We need forgiveness and we need to be able to forgive. Let us all pray for those who hurt us and ask God to give us the Grace to forgive them. Forgiving them gives us relief from our hurt. When we can truly forgive, it allows healing to take place in our spiritual lives.

God knows He has to forgive us a lot.

- WRITTEN BY ROBBIE JO