I've been hurt by people I trusted. Betrayed. Dismissed. Humiliated. And when I think about forgiving them, there's this resistance that rises up inside me. It feels like if I forgive, I'm saying it was okay. Like I'm letting them off the hook. Like their actions don't matter. 💔

But that's not what forgiveness is, is it? My priest explained it to me once—forgiveness isn't about them. It's about me. It's about releasing the poison I'm holding inside, the bitterness that eats me alive every time I think about what they did. Forgiveness is freedom, not weakness. 🕊️

The hardest part is that forgiveness doesn't erase the hurt. It doesn't even necessarily mean we stay connected to the person who hurt us. It just means we stop letting their actions control our present moment. We stop defining ourselves by what they did. We stop being their victim every single day. ✨

I'm still learning how to do this. Some days I'm full of grace and understand it completely. Other days I'm angry and bitter and I want justice, not forgiveness. And I wonder if God is disappointed in me for struggling with this. Or if He understands that being human means this is actually incredibly hard work. 😔

How do we forgive the unrepentant? How do we forgive when no apology comes? How do we keep our hearts open to love when love has hurt us so deeply? 🤔💭