The Divine Gift of Forgiveness

Forgiveness doesn’t have a price tag, but it's one gift that you cannot afford to miss giving.

Why should you forgive friends and family for past conflicts?

Forgiveness is a priceless gift that benefits both the giver and receiver with its grace by restoring inner peace and granting outer harmony with others. Forgiveness allows you to let go of past resentments, anger, and pain that inhibit your natural compassion and love for yourself and others. You only have two hands, and if you are holding on to the past, you cannot embrace the present with open arms. Forgiveness says, Lay down your burdens and walk freely today.

Forgiveness offers a path and a practice for living life in the moment, never clinging to the past. Forgiveness is not a destination that you arrive at in one trip. You walk the path of forgiveness every day, recognizing that on this journey of life, we all fall short of doing our best. We make mistakes and hurt others. Forgiveness provides the grease for moving out of the rut of resentment, step-by-step, moment-by-moment. Each time you forgive yourself and others, you make room in your heart for the benefits of forgiveness to grow: inner peace, love, and compassion flourish in the absence of pain and anger.

Forgiveness allows you to access your personal power to choose to release pain from your heart. It takes personal power to realize that you hold spiritual strength in every conflict, whether or not you exercise that power. I know what it feels like to have no power. As a child, I was sexually abused by my grandfather, which left me feeling powerless and ashamed for not being able to stop the abuse. One of the greatest divine gifts I have received on my spiritual journey is a reminder of my personal power and my ability to forgive others.

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

When I first started meditating and praying to release past pain, I experienced a life-changing meditation where Jesus came to me, holding a small box lined with velvet. He told me that he had been holding this gift for me and it was now time to open it. Inside the box was a heart of light—my personal power. I wasn’t able to use it as a child to protect myself, but as an adult, I could reclaim that power to release the pain of the abuse. I placed the glowing heart in my own heart, beginning the journey of discovering my inner strength to forgive the past.

Shortly after that day, I was meditating and felt the presence of my grandfather, who had died when I was seven. I felt afraid and asked my angelic guides to stand by me as I spoke to him.

With my consent, my grandfather appeared, tears streaming down his withered face. He had never returned to the divine realm and had remained on this plane as an Earth-bound spirit. His guilt over what he had done to his family and his fear of God’s wrath kept him bound here.

“I am so sorry,” he cried over and over. “I hurt you so much and I am so sorry.”

I felt a flash of anger and said, “You hurt me. I hold you completely responsible for what you did, and I will no longer carry the pain you gave to me each time you hurt me. I give this energy back to you.”

I felt a pull within me and I held the old, painful energy in my hands. Suddenly I sensed him moving across the room and in the next moment he was kneeling by my feet, sobbing. I gave him the energy, instantly feeling a sense of lightness.

The next words I spoke surprised me.

“I forgive you. And in forgiving you, I give you a piece of grace to hold in your heart,” I said, handing him an etheric piece of silvery-blue energy. “Use this grace and know the healing powers of forgiveness.”

That meditation began the process of releasing the pain of the abuse, which has allowed me to go deeper in forgiving my grandfather, other family members, and myself. It’s easy for abused children to blame themselves for the abuse. In accessing my personal power, I have forgiven myself as a child, unable to use her power to stop the abuse. Today I am able to use my God-given personal power, and I choose to use this spiritual strength to release pain through the grace of forgiveness. That’s the amazing gift of forgiveness: it not only heals the receiver, but also the giver.

We all hold this personal power within, waiting to transform us and lead us back to our inner greatness. When you forgive someone, you have an abundance of divine grace and love within you at that moment. The other person does not and needs you to extend grace. In this exchange of forgiveness, you are a very powerful being acting from a place of love for you both, just as God extends his grace and love to us all.

Forgiveness blesses us with the remembrance of the power and strength we hold within.

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