I was here on my phone scrolling on my social media and I found this post about forgiveness. As you may have read a few of my blogs, this is a struggle for me after a rough journey to where I am. This evening I was on a chat with a friend of mine who is fighting to forgive his family for rejecting him for who he is. The parent kicked him out of their house and spread rumours in such a way he cannot get any help. He is struggling to get food and because of the shame, he is cutting off people from his life. My friend is so hurt and broken that he stays in his room the whole day and night eating very less to save for tomorrow. After chatting this evening and knowing where I am with this beautiful grace of letting go and letting God, I come across this reflection that I have modified to fit into my world and yours. Especially for those struggling to forgive like I do. It is a cross that we all have to carry in one way or the other, and I encourage you if it gets rough on one shoulder, exchanges it for the other. Try not to drug the cross of Christ but ask Him to help you carry it faithfully, honestly with an open heart and joyful spirit. Forgiveness feels the hardest when the other person isn’t asking for it. It’s really difficult to forgive someone who isn’t even sorry for what they’ve done.⁠.⁠Maybe they deny having done the things you know they did. Or maybe they deny that their actions were wrong. They rationalize the ways they hurt you because they’re unhealthy and unwilling to look their own faults in the face.⁠.⁠In these cases, still choose to forgive that person, even if they go to their grave never having admitted to all the ways they hurt and wronged you. This choice has to be volitional, and it will go against everything you feel within you. But make a commitment to forgiveness.⁠.⁠This kind of forgiveness definitely costs you something. It will offend your sense of justice. But even for all, it costs you, you gain so much more. You will be free of the resentment that would continue to grow and begin to consume you.⁠.⁠“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” (Nelson Mandela)⁠.⁠Sometimes the best way to get back at someone is to forgive them. Once you forgive a person, the hurt they’ve inflicted no longer has any power over you. And so if their intention was to hurt you, they have failed. You have only become stronger. Help me, dear Jesus, be who and what you want me to be. Give me strength, faith and hope, and most of all, give me guidance each and every day. I let go and give you control. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen