How I journeyed to a healed heart through forgiveness.
I have gone through 3 years of a separation and am now divorced. With this comes hurt, a lot of hurt. I didn’t realize how much hurt and pain I had been carrying.
While on a monthly Zoom call with hundreds of people discussing health, wealth, and relationships. I raised my hand and got picked for a hot seat. This is where my mentor drills down on what is holding us back. As he was giving me business counsel, I blurted out, “I need to forgive my husband.”
He paused. Looked at me. We were not talking about my relationships, just business. He was like, “wow’. God was doing something in my heart. My mentor told me to turn off my camera and write out a forgiveness letter to my husband.
That is exactly what I did. It was a little longer than expected but oh so healing. I let it all out. Every stupid little grievance to the the big ones where you say, “I can’t believe that happened.” It all came out on pages and pages of paper, front and back. For those of you who know, think about the Ross and Rachel situation. Only I threw mine away.
A couple days ago was our monthly Zoom call again. As my mentor was talking, I began to reflect on a month ago. Wow. I hadn’t put any thought to the forgiveness exercise. However, God wasn’t done yet. After the call was over, I took my dog, Winnie, for a walk.
God showed me a beautiful picture of the forgiveness that I experienced.
As I was walking, God told me as I journey down memory lane (we were married for 25 years) and reflect on our marriage, don’t pick up the hurt, pain, and bitterness that you let go of. He gave me a picture of a backpack that I had been carrying around.
It was filled with all these little and big stones of hurt, but once I forgave, I dropped the backpack. The stones rolled out which can become stumbling blocks in my path. No. Pick them up and move out of the way. They no longer have a hold on me.
I can confidently walk down memory lane with freedom. Forgiveness gives you freedom. Forgiveness gives you a healed heart. I have a healed heart. No more pain. No more hurt. No more bitterness. Freedom. The kind of freedom where your shoulders drop, close your eyes and breath easy.
Peace floods. Joy abounds.
The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. Psalm 118:24
Who do you need to forgive? Don’t overlook yourself. Sometimes our biggest hurdles are not forgiving ourselves. If you need to walk through forgiveness, book a call with me. I would be honored to guide you to the peace and joy that is waiting for you on the other side of forgiveness.