Hard.
Difficult
Excruciating.
Impossible.

I’ve heard forgiveness described as all of these things and more.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard even one person describe it as exciting, unless they are speaking of the fact that they are excited that God forgave their own sins. But me? I’m totally, 100%, over-the-moon excited out of my mind about forgiveness!!! Because I kid you not…forgiveness has given me the majority of what I have.  

Everything I possess, I owe to forgiveness…starting with eternal life, of course.

What if you knew that whenever you did something, you were going to reap a huge blessing? Wouldn’t you do that thing more? Wouldn’t you be a little more excited about that thing? I’m telling you……………..forgiveness is that thing for me that flings open the doors to destiny. When someone harms me in some way now, I almost wanna shout, “THANKS FOR MY NEXT BLESSING!!” Because I’m that sure that it’s coming. Psalm 58:11 says,”“Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.” Forgiveness is one of the most righteous things you can do, and it comes with a reward. God also promises vindication and benefits. “But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.  You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me.” Isaiah 54:17 

Forgiveness totally changed my life years ago, and it all started with the hardest thing I ever had to forgive. On the day that I was wronged, I knew I was going to forgive, because I’m a believer and I believe that’s what real believers do. But in that moment, all I thought was, “This is hard…difficult…excruciating…maybe even impossible.”  I realized that because of the nature of the injustice, I needed professional help, to walk through the journey of forgiveness in that situation. I didn’t feel like I could make it on my own. Having my husband or friends talk me through it wasn’t enough. I began seeing a therapist to help me walk through that forgiveness process.  When I started out on that path, I never envisioned any blessing on the other side of it, other than knowing I did the right thing. (And sometimes, knowing we obeyed God has to be blessing enough. My husband always says it’s such a wonderful thing to be able to lay your head on the pillow at night and sleep peacefully!) I never imagined in my wildest dreams, what God would do. Since that day,  I have received the greatest blessings in my life spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially, ministerially, and in every other way through the vehicle of forgiveness. And those blessings just keep coming. That’s not to say that I don’t have hard — even brutal days. But the blessings far outweigh the brutality.

It doesn’t always happen so quickly.  In fact, seldom has it been fast for me. Sometimes it takes years or even decades to see it. But great reward always comes eventually.