Forgiveness is hard work. I’m not talking about forgiving someone who just honk at you.

Instead, I’m talking about living a life of forgiveness – forgiving people who have wounded us deeply and healing from the wounds that we’ve been carrying with us for years.

Pretending to be perfect

We live in a world where we work hard at maintaining our image – as if everything is perfect in our world.

At the same time we go to great lengths to numb ourselves. We use anything from being busy to distracted to addicted.

Yet, we find ourselves easily triggered over something that’s small.

Sometimes, we find ourselves dwelling on past events when we hurt emotionally. These painful memories from our past if left unchecked will cause strongholds to be build up within us.

These strongholds will only cause us to become more bitter and resentful with time.

That’s why I find myself being resentful of others who are doing better instead of sharing in their success. I’ve also become bitter when I’m overlooked for a promotion.

I’ve been able to trace these to the strongholds that I’ve build up over years from the time when I was wounded as a child. 

In order to break down these strongholds, I’ve had to go through an inner healing prayer where I was able to forgive those in my past. It is here that I’ve to keep choosing to forgive and to make this a daily habit.

Don’t allow those who’ve hurt you continue to control you

Forgiving does not mean reconciliation with those wounded me.

There are people that are toxic and I can never be friends with them again. But I can still fully forgive them and not hold on to these painful memories.

Holding on to painful memories can affect you physically and mentally and eventually you will end up hurting others.