Forgiving the person that hurt you with their addiction is one of the hardest things to do. Their wrong doings overflowed into your life and you feel hurt by what they have said or done, and it caused destruction within your family’s relationships. I want you to know, there is freedom in forgiveness for you.

FINDING YOUR FREEDOM IN FORGIVENESS

See them through God’s eyes. God’s lens sees things differently than our lens. If you’re a Christ follower, you understand that when He looks at us, He looks at us differently than how we look at each other. We have done so many things to hurt a loving God in our past, in our present, and in our future. He has chosen to forgive us. That doesn’t mean that He isn’t a just God, because He is. But being just doesn’t mean that you have to be hateful, or that you have to hold a grudge.

My husband and I have been walking with Jesus for 21 years now, and helping other people who struggle with addiction. A lot of people don’t understand by looking at us now, what we had to work through. God did a miraculous thing at once in my heart and at once in my husband’s heart. I did so many terrible things to hurt my husband, he did so many things to hurt me. We had every reason to hate each other. But it was the moment that I saw him through the eyes of my Savior, that I forgave him, and it was the same with him. It was in that moment we knew that whatever we needed to work through, it was going to be okay. That’s exactly what we did, and still are doing today! There are things every day that we have to work through as a married couple.

Some of you have had a close family member or friend, and have been really hurt by their addiction. It still stings because they did some really rotten things to you that affected your life. I’m sorry. That should not have happened to you. But I can tell you that on the other side of forgiveness is freedom for you.

You are the one that’s being hurt every day by not forgiving. It’s like drinking poison and expecting somebody else to die from it, that’s what unforgiveness does. Ask God to reveal that person to you through His lens, let Him deal with them justly.

This one is hard to do, but you have to remember your faults. What this does is it reminds you that no one is perfect, we all fall short, and we all need the same grace from our loving Heavenly Father.

“Why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew 7:3 NLT

Jesus draws us with His love. Being a Christian means Christ follower, or somebody who imitates Christ. So if we are out there, throwing darts at somebody, when Jesus wants them to know Him so that they can have freedom, we should analyze that. Ask God to help us and then start acting like He would act. Love them, ask how you can pray with them, and tell them that you forgive them and move on. Remember, you want to throw that poison out! When you do this, you’ll be able to experience true freedom through Jesus Christ.

I hope this encourages you as you step into your life of freedom from your frustrations and anger. No matter what you are going through, you will always be able to find peace in the presence of Jesus.