Bring Your Wounds to the Father (Forgiveness Part 5)
In parts one and four, we mentioned a four-part process to genuinely heal and forgive those who have hurt us. The first step is sometimes the hardest to take.
The first step of healing and forgiveness is to share our hearts with God. It involves honestly expressing what happened and how we were hurt. It is not about pretending to be fine or brushing off our pain. By opening up to God, we acknowledge the reality of our wounds and invite Him to bring healing to those areas of our lives.
Whether they are wounds to our pride, physical pain, or emotional hurt, it is essential to address our pain before dealing with anger or fear.
Hurt may not be the thing we most feel. Yet it hurts when we are sinned against, this is why we get upset. The primary issue is not that you are mad but that you are hurt. You don’t need a course to manage your anger but the Great Physician to heal your pain.
You don’t need a course to manage your anger but the Great Physician to heal your pain.
We may be tempted to dismiss our wounds, thinking, “I’m fine, I don’t need to do this.” However, true healing (for us) and forgiveness (for the other) cannot be achieved if we ignore the pain we experienced.
Here’s the thing, if nothing really happened then we have nothing really to forgive.
For forgiveness to be real, you must acknowledge what happened to you and what’s changed since then. Doing this clarifies both what needs to be healed and what you need to forgive. We won’t just forgive a “nothing burger.” We forgive something that hurt us and pisses us off and makes us want to do stupid stuff that doesn’t glorify God, fix the relationship, or show love.
We won’t just forgive a “nothing burger.” We forgive something that hurt us and pisses us off and makes us want to do stupid stuff that doesn’t glorify God, fix the relationship, or show love.
When we bring our wounds to God, acknowledge our pain, and seek His healing, we position ourselves for genuine forgiveness. True forgiveness goes beyond superficially letting go of anger; it involves a deep healing process that restores relationships and demonstrates God’s love. By engaging in this first step, we align our actions with God’s will, glorify Him, and show love to others in a way that surpasses our human understanding.