Forgiven But Not Forgotten!

Book excerpt: Forgiven but not forgotten: Mabel's Journey Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. (Romans 12:19) Is it possible to forgive and forget when others intentionally hurt us? The author posits that it's possible to forgive and forget if God is at the center of the rebuilding process ....and the following steps are practiced.... - Praying for the ability to recognize perpetrators' motives. - Acknowledging that perpetrators have issues with jealousy, envy, sense of entitlement, or whatever in your God-given wisdom you determined their problem to be. - Asking God to renew a right spirit within perpetrators, as well as ensuring that you do not possess similar characteristic. - Dialoguing with offenders to increase awareness of the painfulness of their actions. In praying, through God you are able to forgive.....realizing that the battle is not yours...but the Lord's. - Accepting apologies, and praying with perpetrators immediately thereafter to remove the yoke of unforgiveness. Mabel is a young girl, whose parents' reckless decisions dealt her a cruel blow in life. She embarked on a journey, trying desperately to escape a dysfunctional and abusive home, but the journey took her through ill-treatment and neglect. It was only through others that she learned to bask in droplets of mercies and at times showers of blessings. Mabel practiced the art of forgiving, so as to lessen the crippling weight and burden of unforgiveness, but just as she thought she would triumph and master the art of forgiving and forgetting, disaster struck.