This was the question I asked myself in the summer as I was thinking about forgiving someone. I remembered in moments of anger over something I did, I was told to forgive by my parents or grandmother. I know that they were trying to rectify the situation and teach me something, but in hindsight, perhaps that's not the best way to approach forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice that we make, so it is very personal. I also believe there is a process to it. I've learned to forgive as quickly as I can if I know I've offended someone, however, this skill only came with having had someone teach me how to forgive as I saw them do it in their own life and how they reaped the benefits of it.
When I spoke about forgiveness in July, my focus was on the emotional side. Too often this was exactly the side of me that I would try to shut down which really did not help the forgiveness process. I believe real forgiveness involves allowing emotions to come up as often as they need to in order to address what I am feeling about what needs to be forgiven and why.
The year 2018 was my Year of Forgiveness. I was convicted by God to openly forgive as many people as I could. This was not easy for me yet it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. I felt the burden released, the weight come off my shoulders and the more I forgave, the more I found out names of people who needed my forgiveness which I was honoured to do. I am so grateful that I lived to see the relief and release that it also gave other people and being able to share a smile or a hug in some cases was such a great reward!
This Saturday November 6th, at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time, I will have an interactive session on Let's Talk About Forgiveness. This time we will go through the process and things that we ought to consider about forgiveness. If you are interested, please RSVP at info@riselfurtado.com for the Zoom link.
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