Forgiveness: I Let Go Of A Long Held Grudge
Hello dear friends! This time around I’d like to share with
you an experience I had and how the power of God worked in that situation.
I have a family member that I didn’t speak to for a number
of years. Prior to that situation we had a fairly good relationship. Then we
had a brawl about something that was important to me. And since then, we didn’t
speak to each other for about two years. However, with the help of another
family member we eventually made up. Fast forward a couple years later and we
were at a similar place to not speaking to each other again. No, there was no
brawl this time, lol. I just decided that a relationship with that person would
be too toxic for me and given our rocky past; decided to ‘cut them off’. What
had happened this time is that I found the person to be meddling too much in my
immediate family life and to me it was actually a repeat of past situations. I
didn’t believe this was just an issue to be resolved but rather a defect in
their personality and I thought it best to just not interact with the person.
To be clear, I did not raise up these particular issues with the person but at
that time, thought that they had to be aware of the effect their actions were
having on me. This was actually the approach I had with most people and
disagreements. If we couldn’t see eye to eye on certain things and did not come
to some sort of amicable agreement and that keeps happening, I’d just cut them
off. As far as I was concerned, I did not need them to live so I didn’t need
them for anything.
Fast forward some more to where I got saved and still was
not on speaking terms with this person. I really only remembered that this
person exists occasionally as for a long time they had not been a part of my
world. Every so often, I’d be in church or come across some scripture that
speaks on forgiveness and I would say to myself and in prayer that I forgive
the person and repent and ask God to forgive me also. Well, to make it
clear, since the first time it came in my consciousness, I declared that I have
forgiven; but on the subsequent occasions I asked God to help me to completely
let go because I didn’t want it to be a case where I haven’t really forgiven
them and then I end up constantly committing this sin.
Then recently a close family member came to me and said
that they got a message from God to give to me. I was a bit surprised but asked
what the message was. I was told that I needed to forgive that person I wasn’t
speaking to. And I responded that I have already forgiven them. I was told that
I needed to let the person know that I have forgiven them, so I said okay. I didn’t
want to disappoint this family member and more importantly, I wanted to please
God. When some persons are told that God gave someone a message to give to
them, they are often sceptical but I didn’t need to be. To forgive is something
God tells us in his word over and over and that if possible we should live at
peace with all men; so I would not need to wonder if it’s from God. So later
that evening, I made a call to the person and spoke about the situation and let
them know that I have forgiven them and moved past the bitterness. Praise be to
God! While I know in fact I didn’t want to continue holding onto the
resentment, and I declared that I forgave them some time prior to being given that
message, there comes a certain freedom with actually advising the person that
you have forgiven them.
(Source:lornabyrne.com)
Chosen, I know that you can forgive someone and the person
may not want to hear it from you, especially if the feel like they haven’t done
you any wrong or even more if they feel like you are the one that has wronged
them but it is worth a try and we may need to apologize to them as well. After Peter denied Jesus thrice, Jesus still wanted
to see him and the other disciples in Galilee (read Mark 16:7). So let us follow Jesus’ example and forgive.
There is still work for me to do as I have one more person I
believe I need to clear the air with. I know I have already forgiven them but I
want them to know. I have asked the Holy Spirit to show me how I should go
about it and I expect to get the answer soon and do it. I was going to wait
until I did it before sharing that with you but Holy Spirit did not lead me
that way. Moreover, now that I have told you about it, I really have to do it,
lol. In addition, this forgiveness thing is constant; as we’ll always have people
who we feel like have wronged us and we need to forgive them.
Friends, I hope having shared this experience with you, you
will now do some introspection and forgive as needed. Remember, we constantly
need forgiveness ourselves and we get it from God once we repent, so it’s fair
and right that we forgive.
Here are a few scriptures on forgiveness:
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