Contend to Forgive

Many of us have been hurt and abused and left torn and scarred by people we love. Where I cannot begin to relate to the tragedies some people experience, I too was hurt and broken from someone that I only wanted to love me. And the end result can be the same. That offense will destroy your life if you let it. It will bring anger, bitterness, distrust, depression, rebellion, self loathing, etc. Where our abusers may have done horrible things to us, it is nothing compared to the weight of the baggage we then carry around with us and let destroy our lives and futures. It will destroy our health and prevent us from achieving our full potential and experiencing true joy. The most liberating thing I ever did, which allowed my to shed my baggage, was to forgive this person. Don't get me wrong, I will likely never forget, but I was able to release him from the offense I had been carrying around for so long. In doing so, I was able to shed all that baggage off my back allowing me to have a healthy life and love and look at myself as not a broken mess, but a person with unlimited potential and not bound by the things from my past. I was not able to do this on my own. Within myself, I only felt disgust and anger for this person and I only wanted for someday for him to get what was coming to him. What changed in my life and allowed me to break free was evaluating my life. I looked at myself and saw that I had parts of me that were ugly and selfish, and careless, and self absorbed. I saw myself as flawed and dirty and unlovely. I then got the revelation that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me beyond comprehension. All He wants is to have fellowship with me. So much so, that He gave His own son to be sacrificed for me so that we could have intimacy. He loved me so much, despite how sinful and unlovely I can be at times, that He allowed His son to be beaten, and tortured, and humiliated, and put to death, so that He might defeat death, rise again and forever pay the price for everyone's ugliness; including this person. Realizing how much God loves me and has forgiven me has allowed me to forgive this person and release him from the hurt he caused me. This allowed me to see that I have a choice, I can take offense and I can release offense. I can hold resentment or I can love others like God loves me. Where this person may be responsible for doing some terrible things and hurting me and people around me, I am 100% responsible for how I let the weight of those instances effect my life. I can choose to return the love God has for me and forgive. I tell you this because I want you to know that you don't have to live with the weight of that baggage on your shoulders. You don't have to let the effects of somebody else's ugliness destroy your life and potential. You have it in you to overcome, to be free, to not be a slave to your circumstances, and to have joy unspeakable. And it all starts by realizing that you can't do it on your own and need relationship with The One who would never hurt you, leave you, and forsake you. Receive the forgiveness given by our Heavenly Father and use that to forgive those who hurt you.