writing, inspiration,

“You Are Forgiving” by Joan Y. Edwards

Are you forgiving? My answer for you is:
Yes, you are forgiving. You forgive yourself and others. You accept yourself and others. You are at peace with yourself and others.
Repeat these statements with “I” rather than “You” to make them true affirmations for you.
Yes, I am forgiving. I forgive myself and others. I accept myself and others. I am at peace with myself and others.

When others doubt your strength, you may do a little doubting yourself. It’s important to instill in yourself an unwavering belief in your strengths. Believe it is possible that you forgive yourself and others.

Meditate. Pray. Talk with your spiritual minister or counselor. They may help you see how to forgive.
Jesus Christ was one person who told us the benefits of forgiveness. Here are New Testament quotes that might be meaningful to you.

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Mark 11:25 “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
John 8:7 “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Alexander Pope says, “To err is human; to forgive divine.”
Lewis B. Smedes says, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

The Lord’s Prayer is my favorite prayer:”And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Love yourself as you are. Thank God for your loving ability to forgive yourself and others. When you’re thankful for things, you receive more of it.

After my divorce from my first husband, I joined Parents without Partners. I couldn’t believe the anger that a woman I met had for her husband. She had been divorced for ten years. If he had been standing in front of her, I believe her rage was so strong that we would have to restrain her to keep her from killing him.

I have heard other people relate how they were mistreated in circumstances long gone by 30 years or more and they are still angry with those who did something they didn’t like…in their eyes, others had mistreated them.

I ask these people, “What is that person doing now? What is the person who hurt you so much thinking about? Is he thinking about you? Has he gone past this situation or is he stuck in the same frame in the video of his life as you are. Or has he let go and gotten on with trying to be a better person and learned from the experience.

Many times they realize that this experience is having an adverse effect on their lives now when the event happened many years ago. If there are instances like that in your life, I pray that God give you the help you need to forgive and fill that part of your body and heart with love.

Forgiveness is a choice. The benefits of forgiveness are many. It helps you physically release tension and relax. Relaxation mode is healing. Spiritually, it is good Karma. What goes around, comes around. The way you treat others is the way others will treat you.

Here are resources to help you find forgiveness:

Bible Study Tools. “Forgiveness:” http://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/forgiveness-bible-verses/
Brainy Quotes. “Forgiveness:” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_forgiveness.html/
Got Questions. “What is the meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son?” http://www.gotquestions.org/parable-prodigal-son.html/
Kate Swoboda. “How to Forgive When You Don’t Really Want to:” http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-forgive-when-you-dont-really-want-to/
Phillip Moffittt. “Forgiving the Unforgiveable:” http://dharmawisdom.org/teachings/articles/forgiving-unforgivable

Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
Copyright © 2016 Joan Y. Edwards

Oh, No. I'm human. How can that be? Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards — **Oh, No. I’m human. How can that be?**
**Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards**

“Oh, No! I’m human. How can that be?” by Joan Y. Edwards

I don’t like to be reminded that I’m human. That I make mistakes. That I make big mistakes. That I make such huge mistakes that I have trouble forgiving myself. Many times I am sure that other people have trouble forgiving me, too. One of the best things about being human is when other people forgive you and love you in spite of the fact that you are indeed human.

Each time I make a big mistake, I look in the mirror and say, “Oh, no. I’m human. How can that be?”

Sometimes I have a hard time forgiving myself, like the day I got a speeding ticket after I’d promised myself I would never get another one, I grounded myself for 3 days.

When I let go and forgive myself and others forgive me and accept me as I am, then I’m usually able to laugh about it. When I’m able to laugh about my frailties and flaws, it makes me feel good.
There are some things that I’ve done that even though others have forgiven me, I still can’t laugh about them. Like the day I tried to get stickers off the windows of my daughter, Lorrie’s new hutch with fingernail polish remover and it spilled on her new dining room table and took the finish off of it. I thought she was going to kill me but she said, “It’s all right, Mom. You are more important to me than the table.” I paid to have the table refinished.

And the day I forgot to put the brake on Mother’s wheelchair and she rolled off the sidewalk and it turned over. When I said, “I’m so sorry, Mother.” She said, “It’s all right. I will heal.”

Here are other times I looked in the mirror and said, “Oh, no. I’m human. How can that be?” I’ve been able to laugh about most of these.

The day I gathered a big huge buggy full of groceries and realized my wallet was on the kitchen counter at home.
The day I forgot to set our clocks ahead for Daylight Saving Time. When my second husband, Carl, and I got to church, the parking lot was empty. We had missed the entire church service.
The day I was so sure I could make it through my day of teaching if it was a Friday that I pretended it was Friday. An hour later, the cafeteria manager came and told me that I had given the children the lunch choices for Friday, would I please tell them the real menu for Thursday and send it to the cafeteria.
The day a couple of years after I married to my first husband when I added the amount I paid for our mortgage in my checkbook, instead of subtracting it and bounced a check at the grocery store/drugstore where he worked.
The day all the noodles for spaghetti fell in the garbage disposal when I strained them.
One day I woke up and realized it was 7:30 a.m. and my first husband, Alvin and I had to be at work at 8:00 a.m. I woke my husband and told him the time and that we had to hurry. I threw my clothes on, brushed my teeth, and my husband was still in bed. I asked him, “Why are you still in bed? Why aren’t you getting dressed?” He answered, “It’s Sunday.”
The day I hit the publish instead of the draft button for a blog post and the blog automatically notified subscribers of a new post, but it wasn’t finished. And after I changed the title and clicked on the link, it said, “What you’re looking for is not there?”

Thank you to all who have forgiven me during my life and loved me in spite of the fact that I’m human and make mistakes.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope my stories about my mistakes made you cringe, made you glad it wasn’t you, and made you laugh. But whatever you feel. It’s okay. Please share your thoughts about mistakes and being human. How do you use human frailties in your writing?

Celebrate you!

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Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards
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