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

words they don’t really mean. The pain they project is just an effort to protect all that feels incredibly fragile inside of them. I know, because I’ve been there. For both the giving of hurt and the receiving of it too. I’m so sorry for how they hurt you. And I don’t know why they did what they did or left when they left. I’m guessing they thought you were better off without them or didn’t think of you at all. They couldn’t see you like you needed or love you like you pleaded. They just had to go. But answers about why are not what you need. Waiting for something from them holds you hostage to what the other person might not ever be willing to give. But if you want to move on? Heal? Lay down what hurts? It’s 100 percent your choice to make. The steps needed are yours to take. It’s what can be yours when you feel what you feel, think what you need to think, and say what needs to be said. Healing is yours for the taking and yours for the keeping. Emotional healing is not so much a level to reach as it is a new way of thinking you choose. It’s admitting you might be thinking about this wrong. Is there another way? There’s always another way. A better place to park. A healthy lesson to learn. A way forward and onward, a future to find. We can treasure what was and leave the rest behind. We learn the lessons that lessen the grip of pain and the impossible strain to resist what now must be accepted. When you let the hurt go and the grudges all leave, PERSPECTIVE—a really great ...