Recently in my Sunday School we were discussing the meaning of forgiveness. I said it means that you not only absolve that person of the wrong they did you but also "forget' Now, humans don't forget certain things so easily, like wrongs done to you. My definition of forget in this case is that you give up the right to bring up this wrong to the person who wronged you. Also it means you shouldn't look back and feel upset all over again, forgiving someone should bring peace to both parties.

Yesterday my best friend forgot she was supposed to pick me up from work. We were going to go somewhere together and here she was texting me that she would meet me there. I reminded her she had promised to come get me and actually she had offered to get me I didn't even ask her to. I said it would take me longer to get there on the bus but I'd get there. After awhile she remembered that she had promised to pick me up, said she felt really bad about it, I said it was ok and she said no it wasn't and that she was sorry. My instinct was to say I forgive you but remembering the discussion in class I stopped myself. Was I truly ready to forgive? No.. I had to stop a minute.. am I ready to move on and not think about it without feeling upset? Am I ready to not bring this up to my friend and be mad at her about it? A few minutes later.. I was. I texted her thank you (for her acknowledging what she did) and said I forgive you. She said thank you and the incident was not mentioned even after I arrived.

"I forgive you" should not be said lightly. It should be the very last word on the subject.

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Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Amen my friend. AMEN!! We do need to put it into practice. When I began to learn about Jesus, at the time I was in a situation that held me back from growing. The main thing is guilt.

I promised someone something and then a lot of things happened and I couldn't keep the promise. But the person would always ask me about it and I would lie sometimes. And the longer into it, the more ways I had to escape it, even avoid the person. It was a trap. And then I read that it said to AVOID SURETY. Oh boy did I hope I had known that before. Because as it was also written, it became like chains on a slave for me.

I could not go on until I SOUGHT forgiveness. This person would not release me of my debt. Even though Jesus would I could not go on in Jesus until I let this person know the truth. It was very hard for me to just ask forgiveness, I just had to end it with a ''and if you choose not to forgive me, I am free anyhow.'' Ya know what I mean?

From this I learned to NEVER EVER let anyone go away thinking they owe me anything. I quickly want to release people of their debt to me, because Jesus did the same for me, even though he could have beat me down over it. I want to be like Jesus in every way. Don't you?

Yeah, great post. I struggle with this sometimes, I want things to be okay so I simply leave it alone or back down, whatever I feel is best.. But then I normally feel slighted, so I know it's not truly forgiveness but rather me trying to act as if I'm like Christ without being like Christ.