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When I was in the fourth grade, my parents got a divorce and my dad left home. I remember watching and waiting to see when my dad would come back. Finally, one day he walked in the door. I was so excited he was home! Then I realized he only came to drop off some dry cleaning for my mom and left again. Each day I hoped that he would call and talk to me. Most days left me in disappointment. Eventually, (it felt like an eternity as a child) I got to spend some weekends with my dad, but then he moved out of state. He still didn’t call often. We only saw him in the summers and sometimes for Thanksgiving.
As I grew up, a friend taught me about Jesus, and I came to know God as my Heavenly Father. One who loves me unconditionally and who is always with me. I learned about the miracle that God sent Jesus as a baby, born to a virgin, to walk this earth with His people. Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus loved many, performed lots of miracles, and helped a lot of people. He taught us how to live in a way that honors God. Ultimately, He died on a cross, taking on all the sins of all people, including you and me.
Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (ESV). None of us are perfect and we all fall short of God’s glory (Romans 2:23), but the good news is that He is gracious and forgives us of everything we do wrong. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Our God is so faithful and good.
As soon as I realized the amazing love and grace of God, I wanted to live my life for Him fully. This meant learning how to forgive people in my life that hurt me. Forgiveness is a process and takes time. But we can choose to forgive and ask God to help us. Ephesians 4:32 teaches us, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We can forgive others because God has forgiven us. I won’t go into all the details about my relationship with my dad. I will say I chose to forgive him. I chose to learn more about his life growing up. I chose to love him. I chose to show him grace like God shows me. Over time, I did feel forgiveness for my dad. He passed away too young because of his poor choices, but I know he loved me the best he knew how. I know he knew I loved him.
Who do you need help forgiving? When we model forgiveness in our own lives, we can teach our kids about Jesus’ amazing love and forgiveness toward us. We can show them the impact forgiveness can have on others and ourselves. When we forgive, we heal. Forgiveness does not approve of what someone has done, forgiveness heals us. If you need help forgiving someone, pray, seek God, make the choice to forgive, and seek out godly counsel. I’m very grateful for the wonderful Christian counselors in my life to help me with the difficult process of forgiveness.
Below are this month’s scripture prayer cards to start teaching your kids about forgiveness. I’ll see you every Tuesday morning on Instagram and Facebook in May to pray God’s Word about forgiveness.
