Guest Blogger Dawn Yoder

*Editor's Note - Dawn Yoder is a part of the Circle of Friends Worship Team and the COF radio host on WHKC 91.5 Columbus weekdays at 10 am. She is also involved with LaRed Business Network which teaches principles based on the Proverbs. You can check out their website www.lared.org and download their principles for free!

The Principle of Forgiveness, Part 1

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." - Lewis B. Smedes

Forgiveness changes us from prisoners of our past to people who are at peace with our memories. It frees us to move forward with our lives. Every person has a need for forgiveness and a need to forgive. We have all wronged another person and we have all been hurt by someone else. Likewise, most of us have recognized there are mistakes we have made that we need to forgive ourselves for. It is tempting to hold on to hose feelings of anger, pain, and bitterness as a means of protecting ourselves or to punish the one that has offended us. But we will never be able to reach our potential and have true hope for the future if we cannot forgive and move on emotionally.

Forgiveness is a choice that we make that is independent of our feelings. As human beings, we are all designed to want justice. When you experience hurt or harm from someone's actions or words, whether intended or not, you may begin experiencing negative feelings such as anger, confusion, sadness and betrayal - especially when it is someone close to you. These feelings may start out small. But if you do not deal with them quickly, they can grow bigger and more powerful. They may even begin to crowd out positive feelings. Refusing to forgive and dwelling on the painful memories of the past will make you miserable. It holds you trapped in a past moment and in those old feelings.

"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves." (Sidney & Suzanne Simon) The way we choose to overcome our plan and hurt is what defines our character. Forgiveness is not forgetfulness, but it involves accepting the promise that the future can be more than dwelling on memories of past injury. There is no future in the past. You can never live in the present and create a new and exciting future for yourself if you always stay stuck in the past.

But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. Nehemiah 9:17