Forgive but NEVER forget!!

It is now the end of another great weekend, but lets prepare ourselves for an amazing week! :) Last week I talked with a few co-workers about how you always need to forgive, but make sure you never forget. I thought...PERFECT topic. Then today while I was listening to my pastor's sermon in church he too talked about forgiveness. He said many people say to forgive AND forget, but that is where those people are wrong. We need to remember...sometimes remembering can hurt, but it also prevents us from making the same mistakes twice. “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”   -Sir Winston Churchill

When someone hurts you, the absolute hardest thing to do is to forgive them. I have learned; however, that forgiving someone not only is the right thing to do, but it lifts a lot of weight off of your shoulders. If we forget about the friend who stabbed us in the back, who knows if we would tell her another secret for her to do it again. If we forget about the boy who broke our heart, we may fall too fast so the next boy can hurt us too. If we forget about the person who lied to us, we may be just as gullible to every other persons' stories.

I've gone through my fair share of very dishonest people, very much like any of you have I am sure... Anywhere from a little "white lie", to a best friend stealing mine and others' possessions, up to anyone being so deceiving that they would cheat on someone. I don't care who you are, whether you cheated on me or anyone, it is wrong and I will lose a lot of respect for you if you do it and lying is my biggest pet peeve, but I forgave those people...my friend who stole from me.. it was wrong and I never trusted her alone with my things again, but I did forgive her. ...As for the guy who cheated on me... I think I am still working on it. I forgive him, but it is hard to get over the damage he did. It is hard to trust someone SO much and then realize everything was one big lie.

By going through all of those bad relationships though, I have realized what I want... what I deserve. I'm not going to give up because of a few lousy people. I have met some extremely amazing people... And great guys do exist, my best friends are proof. Not everyone is the same, male or female. And don't shut everyone else out because of a few bad people who hurt you. Give people a chance, but never forget what the other lessons taught you.

Jesus went through more suffering than we can even imagine, but he still asked God to forgive us. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. -Luke 23:34 ...If we can't learn to forgive those who have hurt us, how dare we expect Jesus to even think about forgiving us?

Good night and God bless! :D

-love-
  dan