The importance of Forgiveness #PrinceofPeace

Forgiveness is really important. People will hurt you and make you feel bad, but you need to forgive them. It’s not always an easy thing to do, sometimes you might even think that they don’t deserve to be forgiven. The thing about forgiveness is that it’s really for those who were hurt. You need to release your pain and anger. You don’t have to keep that person in your life, but you can’t hold on to it. Holding grudges and anger inside is only hurting you. The person who hurt you probably isn’t thinking about it after a long time. Noah will sometimes bring up some people who were mean to him in the past. Two kids were really mean to him a few years ago. I tell him that he needs to forgive them and let it go. I told him that he’s going to get hurt in life, but it can’t let it ruin you. I have personally been hurt a lot. I am not sure why that is. I guess I have a good heart and I love unconditionally. I would never change that about myself. I remember talking to my Grandma Rose about how I was hurting inside and that I was having trouble forgiving people and she told me, why should you keep all that darkness on your heart. Forgive them. Jesus Christ forgives us and if he can forgive us, you can forgive anyone.  I think she probably talked about having black marks on our hearts. My Grandma Rose always made me feel better anytime I felt bad.

If  I would have held on to all that pain and heartache, I would be a miserable person. I have been through a lot of stuff, I am not sure if anyone even knows the whole existent of it.  I don’t want to be that way.   No one is perfect and we all make mistakes, and Jesus Christ forgives us. We need to follow Jesus Christ and forgive those who have hurt us. You don’t even have to contact them and tell them you forgive them, you can just say it with your heart and let it go. That would be strange for me to contact someone out of the blue and say hey I forgive you for this and this.

Forgiving someone who made a mistake is important too. I make mistakes all the time. It’s really hard to read tone on text. That’s how we seem to communicate these days. If someone says that they are sorry, forgive them. Don’t make them feel worse than they already do by saying you should feel bad. There’s a big difference between a small hurt and a big hurt. You are in control of who you have in your life. Forgiveness is one of the 8 principles of the Prince of Peace on Mormon.org. I know that forgiveness helps me be closer to Jesus Christ. I often pray for those who have hurt me. I pray that they find peace. I pray for my ex-husband all the time. I pray that he finds comfort and finds himself back to Jesus Christ. If you know my past, you might think that is strange. We need to pray for our enemies. I don’t think of him as an enemy, I fully forgive him for what he did to me. I needed that closure. I needed to forgive him for me. When you can’t forgive someone, you can’t let go of it. It stays on your heart.  You should pray for everyone, even if you don’t feel like you should. They need it the most.

How do you forgive someone fully? You can write down all their positive qualities. Imagine them as Jesus Christ sees them. We all have goodness and we all have meanness inside us too. Focus on the good qualities. Another way to forgive someone is to ask Jesus Christ for help. He will take any burden from you, just by asking him to. You don’t need to go through this alone, Jesus Christ is there for you to lean on and comfort you. You will feel a sense of peace after you forgive them. It’s time to just let go of it.  You can read or listen to the book “The Healing Power of Forgiveness” by James E. Faust.

If it’s a family member or close friend and you want to stay in the relationship, talk it out. Say things like It really hurt me when you said this. It really bothers me when you do this. Most of the time they will understand and you can talk it out. It becomes a learning experience for you both. I really believe that if you have a problem with something, you should share how you feel. I don’t think that you should just ignore it or them if it’s someone you care about. If it’s just a mean person, ignore it, forgive them and pray for them.I invite you to check out  mormon.org and learn more about the principles of peace and how they can help bring you closer to the Savior.