In Chapter 6 of How Can I Possibly Forgive?, Sara Horn offers three practical steps for overlooking a specific offense.
1. Stop putting words of value to your hurt. Every time we bring up the subject of what’s bothering us or who’s hurting us by their words or actions, we are sustaining and strengthening the power of that hurt in our heart and in our life. The white noise is being cranked up to full volume. Sara states that we need to pray over our hurt, asking God to remove it from our life- and trust that He already has done so. We also need to pray for the person(s) responsible for the hurt. That prayer may not change them, but it will change our heart.
2. Stop giving more credit to the hurt than it deserves. Sara emphasizes that there is no reason for us to let hurts take over our life. We can’t allow ourselves to wallow in or stagger around with our hurt. Rather than letting the hurt control our life, we need to give our life back to God- praying to God to remove our hurt and help us find ways to move forward.
3. Stop allowing room in your heart for the hurt. There’s no room in our heart for hurts when our heart is filled with the knowledge and love of Christ. Because Jesus’ heart is big enough for all our hurts, we can stop holding on to them.
Today’s question: Which of the three practical steps are most meaningful to you? Please share.
New addition to Crown Jewels: “Plan A or Plan B?”
Tomorrow’s blog: “Forgiveness myths”
