Forgiveness is the key to healing
Forgiveness is hard but it is necessary for healing.
There’s so many people who are wounded in this world as a result of abuse, abandonment, or neglect from one or both of their parents. I have noticed so many young men I pray with have a deep father wound. Their father’s never had any time for them and either physically, emotionally or mentally abused them or just flat out neglected them. So as a result, in desperation to numb their pain, they use anything they can get their hands on. This can include substance abuse, alcohol, marijuana, sex, pornography, gambling, or anything else that gives them a momentary reprieve from the pain they feel deep in their soul. It’s the feeling of being worthless. I know because this happened to me, and from age 12 to 37 I struggled with feelings of worthlessness. When the one you trust in the most abandon's you, it's only natural to feel a lack of worth and you will do anything you can to not have to feel that searing pain.
But here's what I learned over time. Forgiveness is the only pathway to true healing no matter how hard it might be. Unforgiveness on the other hand is like drinking poison and hoping the other person gets sick. It imprisons you in your anger and pain, and it leaves no room for growth. I encountered Jesus at age 37 and He taught me how to forgive my father and that alone became the true path to healing that I was so desperate for. Trust in Jesus and give all the pain over to him and in return He will give you his grace and mercy and love so that you can forgive the one who has caused you so much pain. That’s where true freedom lies.
In order to truly heal, I had to get to the root of the problem, which was the anger I was feeling in my heart. Even though it might’ve been justified, until I dealt with it at the root level and not just symptomatically, I couldn’t get healed. But once I was vulnerable enough to let Jesus come in, with his cathartic scalpel and words of affirmation, I was finally able to find the peace I’d been searching for my whole life. Forgiveness is directly linked to freedom.
#doughallmedia #thewell #forgiveness
