12/29/2020
Absolutely not. Forgiveness doesn’t mean tolerating abuse or enabling addictions. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you are saying what they did was no big deal. Forgiveness doesn’t mean they get a pass to keep hurting you over and over.
Quite the opposite.
Forgiveness is your step toward healing.
Forgiveness is to sweep your heart clean so bitterness, resentment, and blinding pain don’t turn you into someone you weren’t meant to be.
Forgiveness is you driving a stake into the ground of today and declaring, “I deserve to stop suffering because of what others have done to me.” And then forgiveness is you lovingly communicating boundaries that you need to stay sane, healthy, and safe.
Forgiveness says, “I love you enough to no longer tolerate behavior that isn’t in keeping with who God intended for you to be or for me to endure.” Boundaries aren’t to shove that person away. They are to hold me together.
Forgiveness allows me to see I can pursue a redemption story with God even if others don’t cooperate.
Honestly, deciding to live a life of forgiveness is one of the most empowering decisions I’ve ever made.