THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

Then she began to narrate her story to me saying: My marriage was supposed to be the beginning of a beautiful journey. I went into it with an open heart, a soul full of hope, and a faith in the promises we had made to each other. I was a virgin when I married my husband, having held onto purity with the belief that my marriage would be a union rooted in respect, love, and a shared commitment to God.

But not long after we exchanged vows, my world came crashing down. My husband changed suddenly, showing a side of himself I had never known. After taking my virginity, he quickly grew distant, and before I could even process the hurt, he ended our marriage. He divorced me, walking away from the promises we had made, leaving me feeling shattered and discarded.

Days turned into weeks, and I found myself crying daily. The pain was immense, as if a part of my heart had been torn away. I couldn’t understand why this had happened, why I had been betrayed and abandoned by the very person I trusted most.

My heartbreak slowly turned into anger. I felt an intense bitterness rise within me, a sense of injustice that wouldn’t let me rest. Soon, that bitterness turned into a desire for revenge. I began praying to God, but my prayers were consumed by pain and anger. I would cry out, “Lord, kill this man! He has hurt me deeply; repay him for what he has done!” I was convinced that vengeance would heal my heart, that seeing him suffer as I had suffered would finally bring me peace.

Days turned to years, and I kept up my prayer, hoping to see a sign of justice. But strangely, the more I prayed for his downfall, the better things seemed to go for him. He prospered, grew healthier and wealthier, and seemed to be moving through life with ease, while I remained burdened by bitterness. Every time I saw him or heard news of his success, I felt the old wounds reopen, and my anger flared anew.

Then, one day, as I prepared to pray the same words I had been praying for years, something unexpected happened. Just as I opened my mouth to say, “Lord, kill this man,” I felt a sudden, overwhelming quiet settle over me. It was as though a gentle whisper had interrupted my thoughts, asking me a question that went straight to the depths of my heart: “Can’t you forgive?”

The words stopped me in my tracks, and I felt a sense of conviction I hadn’t felt before. Forgiveness? I had spent so long carrying my pain, my anger, and my thirst for vengeance that the idea of forgiveness hadn’t even crossed my mind. But the whisper was persistent, a quiet invitation that softened the walls I had built around my heart.

In that moment, I realized how heavy my bitterness had been, how it had weighed me down and kept me captive. My pain was real, and what he had done was undeniably wrong, but the anger I held was binding me, not him. My unforgiveness had chained me to the past, keeping me from the freedom I so deeply needed.

With a trembling heart, I prayed, “Lord, I forgive this man. I release my anger and my desire for revenge. I surrender my pain to You and ask You to help me let go. I choose to forgive him.” The words felt foreign at first, but as I spoke them, I felt a strange peace settle over me, a lightness I hadn’t known in years. For the first time, I felt free.

That night, I slept deeply, and the days that followed felt different, as though I had left a heavy burden behind. I began to heal, truly heal, as I let God take my pain and fill me with His peace.

Not long after, I received unexpected news: my ex-husband had passed away. The moment I had once longed for had arrived, yet I felt no joy, no sense of victory. Instead, I felt a deep humility and an understanding that had eluded me before. In forgiving him, I had released myself from my own prison. It was as though, in surrendering my pain and anger to God, I had allowed Him to take control, to bring justice in His own time and way.

That experience taught me a lesson that changed me forever. True freedom comes when we leave vengeance in God’s hands and forgive those who have wronged us. It doesn’t mean that what they did was right or that our pain wasn’t real. But in forgiving, we release ourselves from the chains of bitterness, and we allow God to work in our lives in ways we can’t always understand.

Today, I am free. I am no longer bound by the pain of the past, and I walk forward with a heart healed by God’s grace. And I share this story because I have seen that forgiveness isn’t for the one who wronged us—it’s a gift we give ourselves, an invitation to let God’s love and justice reign in our hearts. I have learned that the best “revenge” is forgiveness, for in forgiving, we find true peace, and we make room for God to move in ways beyond our own understanding.