Thoughts on Forgiveness

There have been quite a few setbacks in my life but nothing compares to what I'm experiencing now. I am learning first hand what it means to forgive. I love my Heavenly Father and the chance that I have to be here on earth and to go through life experiences that will make me stronger and more worthy to one day enter into His presence. I am finding great peace and strength in the covenants, or promises, that I have made in the house of the Lord.

A talk was given to me by my mission president that changed my perspective on forgiveness. It's called "Why We Forgive," by C. Terry Warner. He writes, "We have little to say about many of the events that befall us, but much to say about how we experience them, how we understand them, how they influence us. This distinction miraculously opens up a bright window of opportunity, the opportunity of forgiveness. It permits us to remember wrongs done to us without believing they have damaged us irreparably, without feeling helpless or hopeless. We can remember those wrongs without retaliating in our hearts, without writhing in animosity and vengeance." It's a choice to be the scapegoat or the forgiver. I want to be the forgiver and I'm still figuring out how I can do that. If I refuse to forgive I reject the Atonement. "Forgiveness may not be wasy to extend. No work is more demanding or, I believe, more significant. It heals individuals; it heals families; it heals generations united by blood or adoption. To forgive another might take years or become the work of a lifetime, and that is just as it ought to be." It's not going to happen overnight. I know through fasting, prayer, and temple attendance that I can be the forgiver. The Lord is showing me the way.