Freedom in Forgiveness

You've never tasted true freedom until you've forgiven. Contrary to popular belief forgivness is actually quite liberating not only to you but it also frees the person you forgive from bondage if they choose to accept it. When you've forgiven everyone in your life, no matter how dirty they've done you, no matter how small the hurt, not matter how large the pain, you free yourself and every single person. The weight of the burdens and pains and hurts disappate, and you become bigger than your past, more than your past, more than your pain. All the impurities drop off, all of the burdens expire.

Forgiveness is NOT opening the door to be burned again but it is truly learning from the experience and moving on.

And forgiveness is NOT necessarily having a friendship or even a relationship with that person (except for God). It just means that you make peace for you and for them, and if they do not accept that peace, that's on them. You have done your part and settled your debt with God if you have forgiven them with all of your heart.

Forgiveness is NOT "forgetting" in the sense that you block out the memories. True forgivness is still having those memories simply as a reminder of where you've been and what you've learned and how far you've come. True forgiveness is having those memories but no longer having the pain, bitterness, and hatred associated with those memories. The longer you hold onto the pain, the longer you stay in your own bondage and the longer you hold others in bondage.

Even deeper forgiveness is a total healing to the point where you are healed without scars, meaning you have been bruised, but you have been made Whole again, so that the affects of the experiences no longer enslave you to their grip--they no longer play a factor in your struggles but now they play a factor in your victories.

If you have not been forgiven by someone else, you must forgive them for not forgiving you. They may very well take their unforgiveness to their grave, but again, if you have done your part then there is nothing more you have to do to be released.

Unforgiveness is so powerful that it can literally put your entire life on hold. It can prevent you from progressing in your life, career, relationships, and it can also hinder your walk with God. Unforgiveness can literally kill you with stress, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, anger and a host of health problems.

I think one of the hardest people to forgive is yourself, because even when things like abuse and neglect are out of your control, because you are conditioned by society to operate your own body and own life, you think that some how you could have stopped it, that some how you could have changed things. Sometimes it is also hard to forgive yourself because you hide from yourself, ashamed of your past mistakes, ashamed of your past. Shame is also bondage.

I was able to forgive everyone else around me in my life, but I could not forgive myself until a couple of months ago. It wasn't until I realized that I didn't have to be cloaked in shame, no matter how bad or ugly my past was, I didn't have to hide from the world, no matter what my mistakes. I was able to accept my own mistakes, accept those things in which I had no control, embrace my past for what it was--dark and dreary--and I was able to make the decision to no longer live my life as a victim. I mentioned my in my November 16th entry that:

"my relationship has made me more aware of what an abused person really looks like. And in order to be able to truly see that, I had to first forgive myself. And when I did, I wasn’t afraid to look at myself in the mirror any more because I was finally able to accept that what happened was not my fault and that I didn’t have any reason to blame myself. Now I am able to look at myself without being judgmental toward myself. I can look at what I am today as a result of the abuse. And now I can look at who I need to become to no longer be a victim."


I can live my life in total freedom. Shame does not bound me. My past does not bound me. My scars are being healed. God is restoring me to being Whole again.

Forgivness is a never ending process. You must forgive over and over again, just as you will have to repent and ask forgiveness over and over again. Otherwise you will continually end up in bondage.

I am a living testimony of how forgiveness can truly transform your whole life and persona. I can't even begin to comprehend the awesomeness that God feels in forgiving us over and over again. The awesomeness God must feel about Jesus. The awesomeness that God must feel when we make peace with Him and His people. Wow.