Freedom Through Forgivenessنموونە

You Can Forgive Them

You Can Do This

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13 ESV

Life changes are complex, and this is one of the hardest. But you can do this. You can forgive! Right now, right where you are, no matter what, you can adjust your mind and heart to forgive. The second you make that adjustment is the second that you have forgiven the person who hurt you.

God Won't Tell You to Do the Impossible

God will not tell you to do something you can't do. If He tells you to forgive, this means that you can do it. It means that you have what it takes to forgive, even if you need some development in that area.

Just because effort is required doesn't mean that something is impossible. Some achievements only feel impossible because we are missing the right amount of work, effort, and discipline.

God makes His promises available to us, but we must still do our part to experience the benefits He makes available to us. Know that when God tells you to do something, He will make sure that you receive the results of what He is telling you to do.

When You Do Your part, God will do His Part

Living a life of forgiveness doesn't have to be a disappointing fantasy. Some people feel this way because they struggle with whether or not they have truly forgiven someone. If they don't feel like they have, it can lead to a struggle over whether God forgives them, and it can spiral downhill from there.

The Holy Spirit provides the love that empowers you to forgive anyone. He gives us the love of God, which we can then share with everyone else in our lives. That love empowers you to forgive ANYONE! His love bears all things (1 Corinthians 13:7), and His love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). Love gives you what you need to make that decision.

Remind Yourself of the Decision You Made

Your decision remains valid, even if you are still processing what happened.

You may have to remind yourself of the decision that you made. The pain, emotions, and scars are still there when you decide to forgive.

Forgiveness is necessary for healing, but you don't need to be healed to forgive.

Forgiveness sets you free to receive healing for the wounds that you suffered. Healing from whatever happened and deciding to forgive are two totally different events in life.

When you decided to forgive, you forgave them!

While you are going through the healing process, you may experience some pain from the wound as it heals. You may become angry, sad, or bothered, and the pain may return. But just because you feel the pain from the wound doesn't mean that you didn't forgive.

This is part of the healing journey. Don't let the fact that you need to remind yourself that you forgave them make you feel like you didn't.

"Feelings follow decisions; not the other way around."– Peggy Heald.

"Feelings are great indicators but horrible leaders."– Tommy Pickens.

Forgiveness is a decision that you make in your heart with words that are spoken out of your mouth, followed by corresponding actions.

Decisions without actions will always be ineffective.

Tomorrow, we will discuss feelings and forgiveness in more detail.

Until then, Forgive and Live!!!