Forgiving What You Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again

by Lysa TerKeurst

Today is the day that you start to let go of all the frustrations and fears and fragments of half-truths and flat-out lies the enemy worked really hard to get you to believe. Sort out what’s true from all that’s deceiving. You don’t need to tidy up your words for God. You just need to pour it all out. Open the case files and examine the proof—not to use against others but to see it all in light of God’s truth. Let Him reveal what you need to learn from all this and take the lessons with you . . . but don’t weaponize your pain against others. God is with you. He is the judge. He is your defender—the only one who can rescue and help you. Remember: resentful proof locked inside of you never exercised justice. It never made someone else change or righted a wrong. It never made someone repent for all they’d done. It only hurt you and imprisoned you behind the label of victim. It’s like sitting in the debris of a demolished building, refusing to let any of it be carried away. “No!” you cry. “I must hold on to this shattered glass and these broken bricks, the framing all twisted and toppled like sticks.” It must be seen for what it is: evidence of an ending. But once acknowledged and cleared of harmful debris, this same place is good ground for a beautiful rebuilding. That collected proof is not a treasure, nor is it a souvenir proving the hard place you’ve traveled to or your secret weapon of justice. It’s debris. Though you believe it’s protecting you and making your world bett...