One of the things I have set to fully understand this year is forgiveness. I have a tendency of holding onto things for such a long time and thinking that I have forgiven simply because I convince myself to “let go” – but that is far from reality. So, early this year I asked God to teach me about forgiveness, and to open my heart to honest forgiveness. My first devotional book for this year is about forgiveness. There are some hard truths that I have learnt but also some truths that I have confirmed.
My word of the week is let us open our hearts to forgiveness. It is one thing to decide to forgive and another to actually forgive. My mother taught me to never do things blindly – and this is something that I apply in all areas of my life. So learning what forgiveness is and what it means to fully forgive has started to set me free from the grudges that I have held for such a long time (and even recently).
What has helped me is writing down what needs forgiveness (from my point of view) and analyzing how certain people or situations pushed me to the point of holding a grudge. One thing I have really appreciated is that forgiveness is really about the individual who wants (or needs) to forgive, and not about the other person who is to be forgiven. This set me free.
So this week set out to identify who you need to forgive and what exactly they did or said that set you off. Let us learn to forgive with understanding.
Dear God,
Forgiveness is not easy, but open our hearts to us. Reveal to us the people and situations we have held onto for such a long time, and lead us on this journey of forgiveness. In Jesus name.
Amen
