Forgiving... yourself...

Ask yourself, if I met someone and heard their story, and their story was the exact same as mine.. mistakes made and all... how would you feel for that person? Would you feel judgement? Would you be critical of them? Or would you feel compassion and understanding? Would you want to extend them grace and love?



“Forgiveness means letting go of the past.”   Gerald Jampolsky
 You can't live in the past and forgive in the present.

Love is an act of forgiveness... you have to love yourself. Because if you don't love yourself... you can not love others. You just can't. People treat others how they feel about themselves.


Forgiving yourself is one of the hardest things to do... sometimes I think it's harder to forgive yourself then it is to forgive others. If you met someone that had made the same 'mistakes' (life decisions) as you have made. You would be more apt to extend grace and forgiveness to that person that you would yourself.  You have to be able to treat yourself with the same compassion and grace as you desire to treat others.

Grasping the fact that you are God's child and that he loves you completely unconditionally, not despite of your 'mistakes' but simply because He created you just how you are with all your strengths and weaknesses. He loved you before you were born. You did and can do absolutely NOTHING to "earn" that love. It is yours because God is who He is ... your creator.

Humbling thought... but what an absolutely comforting thought to KNOW that you are loved by your heavenly Father no matter what you do!! Ahhh!....

Regret...

Living with regret over your past decisions and how life has gone is wasted energy that you could be used to make your future better. If there is something in your life that you wish you had done differently, then make the decision today to change your ending... no one can go back, no one can change the past, but everyone can start today to make for a different ending...

Treat yourself as if you are the stranger you just met that has made some poor choices in life and extend yourself the love and grace that you would extend others... and live for the future in the present! That way, you can truly love yourself and thus you can truly love others where they are in their lives... :)