Forgiveness is a theme running through our readings today.

Night after night Mary was beaten by her father when he came home from the pub (bar) in a drunken rage. So the first chance she got, she left home. Given time, most physical scars begin to heal, but emotional scars can last a lifetime. They can keep you stuck in the pain of the past and cost you valuable relationships, as you act out, hurting those close to you, or yourself; suffering with depression, burying the pain in addictive behaviour or lashing out in anger, unable to trust others, even your friends and family. Even the people who love you can grow weary and despair that you'll ever get better despite their efforts to help you.

Do you know someone like that? Are you that someone? Do you want to move toward healing and find joy? You can. Mary found it when she decided to forgive her Dad and start praying for him. That's when she started to become spiritually and emotionally whole. Mary KEPT ON forgiving him and praying for him until her old memories no longer held her prisoner.

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. - Luke 6:27-28 (NKJV).

The word 'spiteful' implies you did nothing to cause or deserve it, your offender hurt you for reasons you may never understand. Your forgiving them doesn't let the offender off the hook in God's eyes. They will live with the guilt of what they did, and unless they turn to God for forgiveness, they'll have no peace. YOU will have peace! If what they did was so heinous that you feel you can't forgive them, that's where the parable of the Lost sheep comes in . . .Did the sheep have to do anything to get found and saved by the shepherd? Its a sheep....all it had to do was let itself be picked up and carried home. The shepherd did all the hard work. Our shepherd did all the work on the cross, so you could be forgiven and He set the example by forgiving those who tortured and murdered him.

While You need to forgive, you don't need to do it in your own strength, some of us can't. You need to take the weight off your soul and let Jesus do his job. Ask Him to help you to forgive. When you decide to forgive someone and pray for them, you take back your power and reclaim your life.