Forgive Yourself

You become your own greatest enemy when you do not forgive yourself.

"Sometimes it's hard to forgive yourself after divorce because you don't want to admit you did anything wrong," says Rose Sweet, "and because the other person is usually pointing the finger at you or other people are putting you down for your failure in the marriage. That's giving God-like power to all those people who are putting you down. Just stop. Go to God and say, 'Lord, show me what I've done wrong. Help me seek forgiveness, and help me let go of everyone else's opinion of me.'"

"The most difficult person to forgive may be yourself," says Doug Easterday, "because you were there when you made mistakes, and you remember your attitude and the inappropriate things you have done, said, or even thought. But forgiving yourself is such an important arena. It means that you choose to walk in the higher realm."

Forgiveness is a process that will take time, and it is also a choice. Decide that you will forgive yourself just as God forgives you, even when you don't feel you deserve it. One awesome characteristic of God is that you don't have to measure up to certain standards to deserve His love. You don't have to follow certain rules or act in a particular way. He loves you no matter what you have done. God sees you inside and out, and He continues to extend His love and forgiveness to you.

"I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name" (1 John 2:12).

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).