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Unforgiveness
By Shaunna J. from issue 21

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37

Among very serious reasons for illness, lies unforgiveness. To me, to have an unforgiving spirit is
the same as asking for a terminal illness; it is emotional and spiritual cancer. People today are quick
to get angry and quick to hold a grudge. I truly believe that people experience anxiety, and other
health issues because they are okay with being mad at someone, and for some, it’s been years! That
unforgiveness just eats away at your life, steals your joy, and makes you a very unlovely person.
Someone I know became angry with me almost five years ago, for something I don’t even know I did;
in fact no one knows why she is upset. She will refuse to go to the places I go if she knows I will be
there, she will not take calls, and will return my mail. To this day, there is still tension between us
because of a lingering unforgiveness, but I choose to live in peace. Trying to remember why I am
mad about something that happened five years ago, takes too much time and energy.

Did you know that unforgiveness could be the reason some of your prayers are not getting answered?
Yes, indeed, unforgiveness is a prayer and blessing blocker. Mark 11:25 says, “And when you stand
praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive
you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.”
As believers, we serve a God who forgives us the second we ask Him to, and it ought to be our automatic
response to forgive when we are wronged as well. As quickly as we want to be forgiven, we ought to
forgive; even before we are asked. God rewards a loving and forgiving spirit. He longs to bless us, if we
are willing to forgive.

Forgiveness is hard, I know it is. I held on to unforgiveness toward a family member for years, and then when
I asked God to bless me in a way that involved other family, He delayed that blessing for eleven years. I got
so comfortable telling people over and over how this person wronged me and made my life miserable, that I
didn’t realize I was sabotaging my own end results. As I prayed harder for my blessing, it was revealed to me
that in order to be blessed in my family, I had to forgive my family (this particular person). And it wasn’t just
“Ok Lord, I forgive her”, I was compelled to write a letter to tell her that after all of the years gone by, I
sincerely forgave her. It was a humbling experience, but I had to do it in order to move forward, and the
Lord gave me what I had been asking for.

Forgiveness is a personal choice. It is not something you grow into, or buy, or memorize out of scripture.
Forgiveness does not mean you agree with what the other person did to you, or act like it never happened.
Forgiveness is a personal release. The other person may not even care about or want your forgiveness, and
that is okay. Release yourself, and pray for the other. The same as you can choose to love someone; you
can also choose to forgive those who wrong you. So, if you are struggling with unforgiveness, choose love,
choose life…choose forgiveness, you will be glad you did.

Peace to you, and be blessed,
Shaunna~

Shaunna J. lives in Maryland. She has a total of five siblings, two of which did not
grow up with her, but were reunited with her two years ago. She enjoys reading,
writing and traveling.

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