It's a difficult subject and for those who have experienced violence
I cannot pretend to imagine the problems you must have.
An example which did come to mind is that of David and Saul. David was
chased and hounded for years by Saul. But David was still able to extend the
grace of God to him, even to the degree that he did not extract revenge and
kill him when the opportunity came.
Then there is Paul who persecuted the church, that must have been hard
one minute he was threatening to murder everyone, then the next he was the
main man of the moment spreading the gospel.
I also wonder about Joseph, the wine guy got out but forgot about him.
His brothers also sold him into slavery. If ever there was a person who
could have bore a grudge it was him.
Its not always an overnight thing, it can take time to heal emotionally but as
some have said, I think forgiveness is important.
Unresolved bitterness and hurt only harms the person who harbours it.
It hinders God's work in a person's life and it is always there in the
background waiting to bite you when you least expect it.
I really do think God gently leads a person into forgiveness. He does not
stand over them with a big iron bar pointing the finger, rather he works
in the back ground coaxing them to himself leading them to the right time
to deal with the issues.
I have experienced this myself. Some may have read my testimony and
know I was brought up in foster care by my aunt. I thought I had
dealt with my past but then in 2014 I discovered my real mum who I
have not seen since I was a child, had died.
This brought all sorts of unresolved issues up, it was not so much that
I had to forgive her, my real mum had schizophrenia she had nothing to
apologise for.
But I did find that I needed to forgive God, forgive myself and
forgive other members if my family aunt's and uncles, grandparents
- that is forgive them in my own mind. Some are no longer alive and
others I have not seen for 30-40 years.
The odd thing was that my mum died in 2012 but I did not find
out about this until 2014. Looking back I think God was waiting for
the right time for me to deal with everything. 2012 was not the right
time but 2014 was.