Maya Angelou once said, “have the courage to trust love one more time, and always one more time.” We can all draw our own understandings from quotes. My understanding of the quote is that even when we’re hurt, we should always trust love again. Not necessarily from the same person (don’t get me wrong). If someone has hurt you to a point of no return, please by all means, run for the hills. However, if there is a true and genuine love there, I believe that some things are worth fighting for.

Now, I’m a firm believer that it is impossible for someone to love anyone else without first loving themselves. (That can be a separate topic for later) I also believe that it’s impossible to love unless you have first forgiven. Forgiveness is something that I’ve struggled with. I was once faced with something that I found to be completely devastating from someone… and even though I verbally said “I forgive you”, the truth was, I didn’t forgive him. Each and everyday, I harbored that anger and resentment towards him. I wondered why I never felt better even though months went by after the situation occurred. It was because I hadn’t forgiven him! If God can forgive us for ALL of the sins that we commit daily, who am I to hold something over someone else’s head after they’ve apologized countless times. Recently, I’ve finally found peace with it and I have honestly forgiven him. It wasn’t easy, and sometimes that tinge of resentment still appears but I refuse to let it consume me.

If you’re dealing with whether or not you should forgive someone, just do it. Being upset with them is affecting you more than it is them. It won’t happen over night, it took me months to reach a point of content and forgiveness with everything that occurred. If I can do it, you certainly can.

From Me to You, Love.