Forgiveness and love for a lost person

Dear all,

A year ago I betrayed a dear friend. I loved her, but my heart was dark. Out of bitterness for what I percieved to be emotional abuse and deceit, I lied to her. She slept with a married man, and I told her that I informed his wife. I did it to cause her harm in the form of emotional distress. Though God had shown His grace to me many times, I had until then denied Him. Elinor was lost, and a shadow of myself and the aspects of myself I thought I had overcome. I know now that it was the spirit which carried me through hard times in the past, and that the spirit spurs me on now. I know Elinor was sent into my life to show me thus truth. Yet, she lived an emotionally destructive, manipulative life which was beyond her control. In my pride, and disgraught, I dared decieve myself into thinking an act of cruelty and bitterness was a just act of punishment.

Please join me in prayer for her sake, the help she always needed, and the psychological harm I caused her, the shame with which I dared compromise her integrity. Please pray for God to help me recover the ability to forgive that is intrisic to the condition of humankind. In my weakness, I still sometimes feel the same teethnashing bitterness that caused her harm. I pray to learn greater forgiveness in all aspects of life. But, prior conditioning is a hard challenge for me to overcome. Please pray for Elly, and my ability to forgive.

Amen

Proverbs 3:5-6

Lord we agree with this prayer, please forgive and pour your e upon phillif and also upon elly. Lord bless their lives. In esus loving name, Amen!

Dear Heavenly Father, please could you cause forgiveness to abound for Phillif, and for the persons he's mentioned, in Jesus name.
Please could you also bring understanding, wisdom and Your Shalom to the situation regarding Phillif's request by Your Good Spirit and in Jesus name. Thank You

Thank you for sharing this honestly. We all struggle to want to be a judge in place of God's justice and fairness, and while it can be hurtful and unfair to others, I appreciate that you desire healing, both for yourself and the person you judged. I will pray that you can find peace in the midst of your shame; remember that God is always willing to open the door when we knock, and forgive us no matter how many times we have committed the same sin. Forgiveness is a hard thing to learn, and I encourage you to keep looking to the cross when it feels unreasonable or impossible. Jesus forgave multitudes of people for a lifetime of wrongs, even though none of us deserved it.

Are you still friends with Elinor? Is it possible you could seek forgiveness for this if you never had, and let her feel God's love and forgiveness? Praying this will become easier, and for the relationships and friendships in your life.

Thank you so much for this thoughtful reply. I'm afraid whether or not we meet again is in God's hands. Sometimes, I just don't know whether to regret the episode or value what I've gained from it.

Thank you so much for this thoughtful reply. I'm afraid whether or not we meet again is in God's hands. Sometimes, I just don't know whether to regret the episode or value what I've gained from it.

Thank you for sharing your heart and recognizing the need for forgiveness and grace in the life of a Christian! It sounds like you feel sorry for Elinor and angry with her at the same time. It is important to recognize that what she did was wrong no matter what her reasons were for doing it. But it is equally important to understand that “justice” is in God’s hands and not ours. It might be helpful if you could find opportunity to admit the deceit to her and apologize for it. This could help you put this incident behind you and move on to God’s further purpose for your life. It could also sow a seed of grace in her life that could help open her heart to the truth. My prayer for you is that God’s love and forgiveness would fill you so that by finding yourself complete in Him, you will be able to reflect His compassion and glory to the world.