Forgiveness

Lately I’ve been struggling with forgiveness, I don’t mean I’m not forgiving people, but sometimes there is a process when you remember something that was said or done to you and you can still feel the hurt, and the memories of it still brings pain.

A friend of mine who has helped on my journey said to me that forgiveness is sometimes like a onion. So, let me show you what she meant. Imagine an onion. When you cut that onion in half, what do you see?

There are many layers to an onion, and as you peel away each layer the onion gets smaller and smaller. Sometimes forgiveness is like this. There can be many layers to work through, and it feels never ending. Just the other night I was talking to the Lord about something that had really hurt me, and said, “How long is this going to take? Lord, I feel as if I have a gigantic onion, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller”.

The Lord very graciously said that my onion is getting smaller and that He is with me as I peel away the layers. He also showed me that, even though I still feel some pain and hurt, my attitude towards the situation has changed. That is forgiveness. My reaction to it has changed and I’m becoming more at peace with what happened. This was a huge encouragement to me and was what I needed to hear at this time for me to keep moving forward and giving it to the Lord and to keep forgiving. I am not saying that forgiveness takes a long time in every situation, but sometimes there are things that deeply hurt. They will take time, and that’s ok.

Is there anything you can think of right now that you are struggling with and finding it hard to forgive, or that you wonder if you have actually forgiven a person? Can you take a moment to bring that to the Lord? Are you perhaps thinking my onion just seems too big? Do you know that forgiveness is a choice not a feeling?

I want to encourage you today to bring any unforgiveness to the Lord, any situation that you are working through, and ask the Lord to help you. Be open to His voice and what He might say. You are not alone in this journey, as the Lord Jesus is right beside you, and He will give you strength and courage. Can you choose today to peel away another layer of your onion, to allow Jesus into those areas that may still hurt, and let Him bring the healing that He wants to bring? The above scripture reminded me that we must keep on forgiving.