Dear younger me,
Many times at church there have been services on forgiveness, which has never really been one of our strong suits, but here’s what I want you to know about forgiveness.
What exactly is forgiveness? Forgiveness is the action to forgive someone; what does it mean to forgive? To forgive is to stop feeling anger towards someone or about something. Everybody has bad relationships. There is always going to be someone in life who does you wrong, and there will always be one person who does something so awful to you that you think it’d be impossible to forgive them. No matter what was said, done, or taken from you, you must learn to forgive.
Never let these people have the power over you to make your life miserable. Forgive them to have peace in your own heart. Forgive them so that you may move on with your life and find better people to surround yourself with. When he cheats on you with your friend, forgive him because neither of them is worth holding yourself back from meeting someone who will you treat you like a queen. Forgive them so that you may be happy and can get rid of all the bitterness that may lay inside.
To forgive them is to continue to live each day of your life to the fullest and to love every part of yourself. Forgive them so when you do meet someone who will treat you right, you’re ready for the relationship. Forgive them because when someone cheats, it usually means that they’re going through something, like suffering from their own insecurities (or it may mean that they’re just not a good person overall).
Learn to forgive so you can become happy with yourself and your own life. Forgive to become strong enough to know that some people come and go, but God has a reason for bringing each person into your life and a reason for taking them out of your life.
I wish I could make you understand that when someone says that God does everything for a reason, they’re right. Learn to trust in God and that He has a plan for each of us. It’s up to us whether or not we let go so we can willfully follow His lead.
I’m not saying it’s going to be easy because it’s not, it’s going to hurt like a bitch badly, and, unfortunately, it’s going to hurt for a while. Thankfully, through forgiveness, it will make the pain a little less intense after a while. You’ll wake up one day realizing that wow, this doesn’t hurt so bad to reflect on anymore. You will meet new people, make new friends, and even though it feels impossible right now, you will eventually fall in love all over again. However, this experience will teach you many things. It will teach you how you deserve to be treated, the type of person you want, and that life moves on.
Trust me, we’ll be fine. Forgive and let go and enjoy the here and now.
