When holding onto anger was most justified, Jesus forgave, and he called us to do the same. We’ve compiled some of our favorite stories here as a testament to the power of forgiveness not just in the lives of the ones being forgiven but in the lives of the ones doing the forgiving as well. It seems Jesus might’ve been onto something.
How to forgive like Jesus did.
We prompted people to share their stories of forgiveness, and we were amazed by what we heard.
I am publicly stating that I forgive the man that shot and killed my mother. Forgiveness is the first step toward healing.
As a child, I had numerous surgeries due to a birth defect. I NEVER remember my dad coming to see me in the hospital. It definitely affected my relationship with my dad — we were never close, and I felt I was an embarrassment to him. My mother passed away when I was 25, and I inherited a trunk filled with her journals. I began reading her journals and found out my dad came every night after I was in a deep sleep due to pain medication so my mom could go home to rest. My point in this story is that you may be so certain of what you think you know and be totally wrong. And to me, that's what grace is — giving the other person the benefit of not knowing the whole story.
I got married and started a family at a very young, vulnerable stage in my life. I hadn’t experienced adulthood or my independence before having my first child. I quickly found myself in a relationship full of lies and abuse of every kind. I was intimidated by him and hid the abuse from everyone because I yearned for my happily ever after. After 10 years of “surviving,“ I was able to make my escape and start my new life as a single mom. I resented the way he’d treated me and how being with him derailed my plans for college and truly experiencing life. I began to rebuild myself and learned a lot about my worth. After several years of holding on to hate for him, I found the strength to forgive him and remove the weight he had on me. His opinion of me no longer matters. He doesn’t live in my thoughts or my heart. I have a newfound freedom with his presence, even subconsciously. Forgiving him wasn’t for his benefit; it was for mine.
In 2015 I was sentenced to 80 months in a federal prison camp for a white-collar crime. As a result, my wife of the time divorced me, my daughter and son changed their last names, and they have completely cut off any and all communication. This has broken me into pieces. What I did was wrong, and I take ownership of what I did. While in prison, I would write all the time and send cards and try to call, to no avail. I have been out of prison for a couple of years now and still try to reach out to my now adult children, but still with no response. But rather than become angry, I have chosen to forgive my children for not responding. Forgiveness has freed me of resentment and anger.
I didn't want to reconcile with my best friend. The words spoken made me see what was in her heart. However, I could see pain too. And I thought, if I have pain that causes me to hurt those close to me, she can have pain that can bring out horrible thoughts against me. So I forgave her. Not to her face, not in messages, or a phone call. I know she doesn't expect the need for forgiveness from me, but I needed to forgive her because that anger was consuming me from the inside. So in my heart, I have forgiven.
