If we don't forget, are we truly forgiving?
Forgiving and forgetting for me works hand in hand. One cannot be accomplished without doing the other.
How can we forget if the wrong doing continues and if the wrong doing continues, is the person seeking forgiveness really sorry for the way that they are being? This is actually the very reason why I have nothing more to do with my dad. Because of how long and how in depth his history of wrong doing actually goes, I can no longer trust him and when the trust is gone, what's the point in remaining in contact with a person?
God bless you and my dad always!!!
Holly
Perhaps I should clarify. The sin happens once from one person. Against the backdrop of other people committing the same so called unforgivable sin.
Are we stuck in a pattern of unwillingness to forgive?
If its a one time thing then yes, not only will I forgive, but I will forget too granted the wrong isn't something really bad to where its a wrong that you will forever be reminded of for the remainder of your life...the widow of my late beautiful precious Steve Sanders of the Oak Ridge Boys...I don't know how she does it.
God bless you and that precious lady always!!!
Holly
P.S. She and I actually had a chat about this very subject. She had this to say first: "I love how you love Steve, if he were here, he would give you a HUGE hug. He would also ask you to forgive everyone that you think did him wrong.
I have -- you should too. Its time to "build a bridge""
I had this to say to her in return: I most definitely do not mean to mess up the place that you have been in more than I may have already, but what you say here about forgiveness brings me to this question: Do you forget? Forgiving is easy compared to getting things off and out of our minds completely. Yes, the Lord has his sea of forgetfulness that our bad words and activities get thrown into, but sadly, the rest of us are not perfect like him. We are lucky if we even have a puddle for the discarding of what is done to us by other people and should their choice of actions against us be severe enough, the needed supplies to build a stable enough bridge may not even exist.......because of how bad the horror you had a front row seat to was, how were you able to get to where you were before I started writing to you? Thank you so much for being willing to share even more of Steve with me, but I may not even deserve what has already been given to me. I do apologize if I have only made the matter of him even worse for you. Such a thing was never once my intention. Thank you so much for what you have already shared with me concerning him. (((hug)))
What I have underlined of her message is what really stood out for me. Her saying "I have." only confirmed what I suspected from the very beginning. The only question that I have left is this one: Who had a hand in making that gun look so tasty in Steve's opinion? Only that is a question that doesn't need to be answered because I already know who. The only thing left to do is wonder what the Lord may have in store for them especially if they have never once asked the Lord to forgive them for the role they know that they played in Steve's suicide.
