THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

In today’s blog, I want to share with you the power of forgiveness.

A while ago, I experienced hatred for someone.

Every time I see this person, I felt so angry in my heart, and I wish those terrible things will happen to this person. The unfortunate thing, I had no escape from this person because he temporarily lived with us.

It was so stressful whenever I think of going home, and the thought of seeing him at our house felt heavy in my heart. It was frustrating when he was the first person I see when I arrived home. It was infuriating when I see him ate our food and used our things. One day, during my prayer time, I read these words, “If the Spirit of God is in you, hatred has no place in your heart.” I felt upset with this message because I know what it means, “FORGIVE!” I told God, “I am sorry, Lord, I cannot forgive that person. I hate him.”

I closed the Bible and left the place where I had my prayer time, and went to school. While I was sitting and listening to my teacher, I saw on the board a vision of Jesus on the cross, and these words came to me, “You sin, but I died for you.” These words were like a bolt of lightning that strikes me. The message was clear, FORGIVE! But at this time, I felt my resistance fell off. I was stunned and quiet; my mind started to wander. I asked God for forgiveness for being stubborn. I told Him it is hard to forgive.

After school, I went to church. I asked God to help me and grant me the grace to forgive. After praying, I went home. Then, a miracle happened! That person whom I hated so much was standing by our door. He greeted me, and I greeted him back, and to my amazement, I felt happy and light. My anger was gone, and honestly, I could not remember why I hated that person in the first place until now. I called that experience a Forgiveness Miracle. Do you have people in your life that you hate? People who made mistakes or fail you and you still keep playing their mistakes on your head, or you are still rehearsing the pain and disappointments they caused you? How long have you been nursing that pain and frustration? How is that affecting your life now? Unforgiveness can cause you so much stress. It will affect your mental, physical, and spiritual health and well-being. Unforgiveness affects your physical well-being because when you hate someone, your body will release stress hormones. It can cause you sleepless nights, give you a heavy heart, constrict your blood vessels, and increase your blood pressure and heart rate. Your inability to forgive will affect you mentally. The more you hold on to your grudges and rehearsing your pain and frustrations, the more you will tend to develop negative thought patterns. These may distort your perceptions about yourself, others, and your life in general. What you always think you become. Hence, not able to forgive someone may affect your outcome in life. Unforgiveness affects you Spiritually. As the Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. If you don’t forgive someone or yourself, it will block the flow of grace and love in your life. You cannot completely rest in the Spirit of your God if you are holding grievances in your heart. According to Proverbs 17:19, “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.” Forgiveness can heal you. I firmly believe that your HEALING begins when you FORGIVE. Forgiveness can give you inner peace and joy. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you will forget what the others had done to you (though it can be too like what I experience). Forgiveness doesn’t mean the pain will go away once you forgive. In fact, sometimes, it may take a while for the pain to go. But you just continue to decide to forgive and ask the grace from God that one day, you will not remember the pain but only the lessons that you will learn from that experience. Think of a person in your life now that needs your forgiveness. That person might be You. Make a decision to Forgive. It is not easy. I know. But ask the grace from God. With God, nothing is impossible. Jesus Christ is the best model for forgiveness. He was betrayed by his friends, crucified on the cross, but He chose to Forgive. Forgive even if you don’t feel like forgiving. Ask the grace from your God. If you like this post, please share this with your friends.