Forgiveness

Forgive
(verb)
- to excuse for a fault or an offense; pardon.
- to renounce anger or resentment against.
- to absolve from payment

"These verbs mean to refrain from imposing punishment to an offender or demanding satisfaction for an offense; a conventional way of offering an apology. More strictly, to forgive is to grant pardon without harboring resentment."

Oh. My gosh. The word sounds nice and heartfelt, but seriously, forgiving is one of the hardest things (at least for me) to do!
It's one thing to become frustrated when you know you have to forgive someone, but it's a whole different bucket of worms when you're trying to forgive someone that YOU wronged in an almost identical sort of way. It kind of doesn't allow me to be mad at the person because I'm struggling to forgive them. Does this make sense? I hope so.
I've become close friends with a rut and a hard place on this forgiveness factor with certain people in specific circumstances; sometimes I feel forgiveness full force while other times I feel bitterness and resentment bubbling around like a lava lamp! I have it written down, somewhere, in my Bible that says, "True forgiveness is thinking back through everything without bitterness." Sometimes, I honestly don't think I'll ever get there. And yet, there are those other times where I already find myself thinking through things, and thinking about them as just things, not as feelings or anything else.
It's a process that God is still holding my hand, walking me through.

"Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
Colossians 3:13

"If you, oh Lord, kept a record of sins, oh Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared."
Psalm 130:3-4

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."
Ephesians 1:7-8