Power To Forgive: The Power Of Grieving Well

Here is the devotional:

Forgiveness always involves grieving.

You’ve probably heard of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Because they’re called stages, it’s easy to think grief is a linear process. Stage 1, 2, 3…Click. Yeah! I’m over it!

But grieving isn’t like that. It’s more like a spiral. The pain tends to loop back around. You may wake up days, months, or years later and be hit by a wave of sadness and anger that feels just as intense as the moment the hurt happened. This doesn’t mean you haven’t truly forgiven. It just means you need to remind yourself that you chose to forgive.

The good news is, the spiral will get wider and wider. The episodes will get further and further apart. If the spiral comes back around again, don’t feel guilty. It’s normal. Just remind yourself that you chose to forgive. Eventually, you’ll get to a place where the memory of the event will only bring peace.

Forgiveness is obedience to God. But it’s also the path to unlocking the fullness of our freedom in Christ. If you choose to forgive, you can be confident that you’ve been set free. It may take a while to feel free. But know this: You are free!

You don’t have to be held back by the hurt, pain, or shame anymore. Jesus forgave you. You forgave those who hurt you. And now you’re walking on the path to becoming fully you – the person God says you already are in Christ.

Here are the scriptures referenced:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:31‭-‬36 KJV

Here are Stu’s thoughts:

I really don’t know about the whole memory of the event will bring peace thing especially for those who were a victim of sexual abuse at any age, death of a child (maybe so over a long period of time), or even physical and mental abuse.

There is a LOT of grieving that comes into play with those scenarios.

Angie has gone through all of those scenarios…peace…yeah..not so much. Though she has forgiven they still cause issues.

I’m sure a few of my friends who endured physical and sexual abuse might agree with me on that.

Peace…in Heaven!

On earth where our brains have full memory function…🤔

Upon forgiving someone we are spiritually set free of the hurt, anger, etc. It will just take time and a lot of prayer for our heart and mind to catch up with the spiritual freedom.

Heck it’s almost been 10 years since I forgave my dad and I still get upset at times. It still stings a little. The resentment is gone but it still stings some…just saying.

There is NO “set” time limit on grief either. Everyone handles grief differently even after forgiving a person for the wrongs done.

So if you have a spell ten, twenty, even fifty years down the line it’s ok. That’s normal because we are emotional creatures at heart. God made us that way.

And that spell does not mean your forgiveness of the person was in vain. That was real. You released it. You’ve been set free. Even a freed elephant will look at a chain and have an episode. We are no different other than the fact we have Jesus!

We can go to Jesus during our episode and ask for peace to calm us down every time we have one.