What's next???? The adventure continues!!!

[StrgMarvelousWmn]

Spell is dead on in this. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. While that is the title of an article by Michelle, it is also very true. The best thing I could have done for ME, MY mental health, and MY kids was to forgive my DH and the OW. Was it easy??? Heck no!, Especially not the OW. But the bitterness, anger, and hurt was eating me up. Look at my last three threads and you can see it in my posts. Shortly before Christmas, I was starting to scare some of my supportive friends--both here and in RL. My anger and frustrations were palpable. Yet slowly, through the holidays, with God's love and support, I found the courage to forgive my DH. Then, with the help of a group at church, I found the strength to forgive OW.

The thing about forgiveness, too, is that there are layers to it. Think Shrek when he says ogres have layers like an onion. When you peel one away, there is a deeper one. As you get closer to the center, the layers sometimes are dense, sometimes thin. The depth of the forgiveness is directly proportional to the extent of the wounding and the intimacy of the relationship that the wounding occurred in.

I am sure there are going to be repeated needs to forgive both of them, but the removal of the initial bitterness and pain was like being set free from a cage. I know this is also true, as my mother commented to me last night about the calm and peace I have gained in the past few months and the only things I can attribute it to is forgiving my DH and the OW, and walking closer with the Lord to enable me to forgive.

Living God's blessings with grace and dignity~
SMW