Give Freedom and be free yourself..

I was talking to someone who was very timid, afraid of crowds, shy and hesitant to enter into a relationship with someone. He had been psychologically and emotionally abused as a child, starved of affection, always told he was worthless, very unwanted. I was not very subtle with him, I asked, "have you ever forgiven your parents?" "you've got to be kidding!" he replied. "they've made a complete mess of my life! Never!" "You can change that mess," I said, "with the power of forgiveness" and with that, he left me. A couple of days later, he approached me again and asked me to help him begin to forgive. We prayed for quite a while asking Jesus to help him, to give him the strength to forgive. I encouraged him to ask God for the grace of forgiveness each day until he thought he could not only say "I forgive you" but also feel it in his heart. Sure enough, after a number of weeks, his life and personality changed. Instead of harboring hatred and resentment towards his parents, he chose to set them free - which in turn set him free as well.

Lord, give us the power to forgive as You forgave Your tormentors on the cross.