Forgive This?

Are you kidding me?  I am supposed to forgive abuse? My husband had an affair, my father verbally belittled me, I was beaten, my virginity was stolen when I was raped, I was lied to by someone I trusted, my child was wounded by him, my life was ruined by her choices, my mother hated me, his reckless driving killed my family member....the list is endless and can be even more brutal than some of these things.....I can not possibly know your pain, or identify with all of these...but I do know it's real, and I do know it surfaces every chance it gets. Most of us have experienced at least one of these acts of abuse...I personally had an unfaithful husband who struggled with his own addictions, and our family was greatly affected by his choices.  Our anger can be justified and our pain can be very deep from the wounds of life circumstances.  But, if you want the pain to go away, and you want to live the rest of your life experiencing joys you watch others living out....there is only one prescription.  There is only one antidote that will make that happen....forgiveness....when we stop wanting the other person to feel pain...we have forgiven.  When we begin replacing those hurts with more enjoyable memories...healing begins....tears may flow because medicine sometimes burns....but the pain begins to subside, and soon only a scar will be left to remind you of the pain. You will no longer feel it...instead you can experience joy in the moment.  You can uncover the scar, look at it, and remember your experience and what you learned from it... but, instead of feeling the pain, you can bring hope to someone else during their time of hurt.  Not only have you been able to forgive, but you are now able to give...and with giving comes unspeakable joy.  So, forgive this?  Yes!  How?...by replacing that memory of the hurt with a new memory of joy...one at a time.