BittersweetSample

Written by Isabell, age 17 from Indianapolis, Indiana 

Have you ever had a time where you felt like you would never be able to forgive someone? I think everyone has. Maybe your friend talked about you behind your back, a family member said something mean, or the person you were dating cheated on you. No matter how forgiving a person you are, sometimes it feels too hard to let go of the ways people have hurt you. However, we have all made mistakes. None of us do the right thing every single time, but God is always ready and willing to forgive us no matter what we do or how many mistakes we make. And just like God forgives us, we should forgive others. I'm not saying it's easy, and often forgiveness takes time, but we should try to give grace and show love to others. Jesus died on the cross so that our past mistakes don’t define us and so we can have a fresh start, which was the ultimate act of forgiveness. Because we have been so greatly forgiven, we can forgive others when they wrong us. Today, spend some time thanking Jesus for forgiveness and his help to forgive others.