Healing Power of Forgiveness

I’m convinced that something we all have in common is that we’ve all experienced, to some degree or another, the emotional pain of betrayal, abandonment or rejection. 

I know from experience that the emotional pain we feel from past woundings or present disappointments greatly affects how competently or incompetently we govern our lives. Also, it is evident that the longer we harbor our wounds, the wider the rippling affects those wounds have in our lives. 

At times, my story of forgiveness puts me in close contact with others having similar stories. Sometimes, because someone knows my story, they will confide in me about their own. 

Inevitably, some of the circumstances in stories from others are similar; an alcoholic father, a dismissive mother, estrangement from family, and deep feelings of rejection. Sometimes their stories have added sadness such as a personal wrestling match with depression and alcohol addictions.

In short, there are a lot of hurting people in our world which is why I keep telling my story of forgiveness.   

Forgiveness was the healing balm that I learned to apply to the wound inflicted in childhood when my father ended his life by suicide. 

I did not discover the healing power of forgiveness until many years after his death; after I’d lived with the consequences of victim thinking, resentment, and bitterness. Such things as these caused rippling and damaging effects not only to my life, but also to the lives of others.

Relationships teetered on the brink of disintegration, and my perspective of anything good in my future was nil. I wanted to break this cycle of sorrow, but I did not know how.

If we are looking, I am convinced we will find the way to forgive someone. Though our journey will be different from someone else’s, the knowledge and understanding that we need to forgive will come around often enough that makes it hard to ignore. 

Most recently, the people I’ve encountered and have had the opportunity to talk with about forgiveness have left me with a few insightful comments that tell me that my story of forgiveness helped them to see where they were still blaming someone or where they simply needed to keep moving forward in their own journey.

But, when we do choose to forgive, it can’t help but have far reaching and wonderful results in our lives and in the lives of others. 

Why Bother?

Why bother being grateful for the healing power of forgiveness. If we forgive even one person, that forgiveness will without a doubt have a rippling affect on all our other relationships. Forgiveness is that powerful.

P.S.  I wrote the story of my journey to forgiveness for those who, like me, know they need to change, but are not quite sure where to start. You can find A Heart’s Journey To Forgiveness at Redemption Press and Amazon.