So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy (set apart, sanctified for His purpose) and well-beloved (by God Himself). Put on a heart of compassion…; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive.
Colossians 3:12,13 AMP
At the time I recalled Corrie ten Boom’s story, I was living with hurt. Having moved from Brazil to the United States, I was experiencing the pain of injustice and rejection by people I trusted and loved. In order to encourage me, I am sure God brought Corrie’s story to my memory (as preserved in her own writings as well as in the movie The Hiding Place, which I’d seen as a fourteen-year-old).
As a young adult now, I pondered my own hurt as compared to what Corrie had been through. My hurt suddenly seemed smaller.
I asked myself, How can I hold off forgiving others when God continues to offer me forgiveness again and again?
Later on, I began to study the personal implications of forgiveness. I also went on to study forgiveness among our own church members, ones who had had a history of child abuse.
Among other things, I learned that those who more easily forgive others have better mental health than those who do not. Corrie ten Boom had also noted, in her experience with other victims of Nazi brutality, that those who were able to forgive others were better able to rebuild their lives.
Over the years, I have learned that forgiveness is a process. It may take time to forgive someone who has caused us deep pain and trauma. I also learned that forgiveness does not always mean reconciliation, and it does not always require the other person to feel sorry for what they did. In addition, I learned – especially from personal experience – that forgiveness does take work and that we cannot do this work alone. God, and God alone, can enable us to truly forgive others.
I chose to allow God to heal my pain through forgiveness. What will you choose?
Notes of Joy © by Pacific Press Publishing Association