{"id":1193,"date":"2012-07-15T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2012-06-27T20:37:43","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T01:37:43","slug":"what-is-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1193","title":{"rendered":"What Is Forgiveness?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Forgiveness.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1195\" title=\"Forgiveness\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Forgiveness.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"116\" height=\"129\" \/><\/a>Studies show that those who master the art of forgiveness live longer, healthier lives.\u00a0 Psychologists, doctors, and scientists are embracing an idea considered mostly theological in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.com\/health\/forgiveness\/MH00131\">Mayo Clinic<\/a> here are just a few of the health benefits of forgiveness\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Healthier relationships<\/li>\n<li>Greater spiritual and psychological well-being<\/li>\n<li>Less anxiety, stress and hostility<\/li>\n<li>Lower blood pressure<\/li>\n<li>Fewer symptoms of depression<\/li>\n<li>Lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\" http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/balance\/guide\/forgive-forget       \">WebMD<\/a> website adds to these benefits a stronger immune system, less back pain and fewer headaches.\u00a0 Forgiveness also reduces negative emotions such as anger, bitterness and resentment.<\/p>\n<p>So everyone agrees that forgiveness is good.\u00a0 But what exactly is forgiveness?\u00a0 In the last blog we found out that forgiveness is <strong>not <\/strong>necessarily the following:<strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>forgetting, trusting, condoning, pretending, preventing accountability, reconciliation, weakness, restoration, conditional or earned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So what is forgiveness????\u00a0 Personally I think of forgiveness as relinquishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the deal\u2026all of us at one time or another have had someone betray us, hurt us, emotionally wound us, or do us wrong.\u00a0 So humanly speaking we think we have a justifiable \u201cright\u201d to hurt back, take an eye for an eye, or retaliate.\u00a0 When we forgive, we relinquish that \u201cright.\u201d\u00a0 Our motive changes from revenge to what is best for the individual.<\/p>\n<p>This is not easy to do.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s why C.S. Lewis said, \u201cEveryone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, unless they have something to forgive.\u201d \u00a0Yet the Bible tells us to forgive (Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4: 32, Luke 17:4).\u00a0 And we are definitely admonished not to seek revenge because God will take care of that (Romans 12:19-21).\u00a0 Do we trust God to take care of these things or not?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now on the surface forgiveness appears to be a selfless act, but it really isn\u2019t because forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves.\u00a0 Sometimes the person we are forgiving doesn\u2019t even know it.\u00a0 Sometimes a person knows it but doesn\u2019t care.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 For in relinquishing this \u201cright\u201d we trade caustic, self-destructive elements such as anger, resentment, and bitterness for peace.\u00a0 We can cross over from being a victim to being a survivor.\u00a0 We can get on with our lives.\u00a0 We can stop the past from dictating our present or future.\u00a0 We can let go and let God.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a couple of my favorite quotes about forgiveness\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cWhen you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel.\u00a0 Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.\u201d ~ Catherine Ponder<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cTo forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.\u201d ~Lewis Smedes<\/p>\n<p>Forgiveness is the first step on a journey to healing.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t happen overnight.\u00a0 It\u2019s a hard and sometimes long process but truly worth the effort.\u00a0 Fostering forgiveness benefits not only our physical life but our spiritual and emotional well-being as well. \u00a0Forgiveness is a win\/win situation.\u00a0 When we do it for others, we are really doing it for ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Studies show that those who master the art of forgiveness live longer, healthier lives.\u00a0 Psychologists, doctors, and scientists are embracing an idea considered mostly theological in the past.\u00a0 According to the Mayo Clinic here are just a few of the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1193\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}