Not About Forgetting
“No, we remember, but in forgiving we no longer use the memory against others.”
– Richard J. Foster, Prayer:Â Finding the Heart’s True Home, p. 187
As We Forgive Our Debtors
“So it is with forgiveness. As long as the only cry heard among us is for vengeance, there can be no reconciliation. If our hears are so narrow as to see only how others have hurt and offended us, we cannot see how we have offended God and so find no need to seek forgiveness.”
– Richard J. Foster, Prayer:Â Finding the Heart’s True Home, p. 187
God loves to forgive.
[Jesus] “teaches us in this way because he knows how very much God loves to forgive. It is the one thing he yearns to do, aches to do, rushes to do. At the very heart of the universe is God’s desire to give and to forgive.”
— Richard J. Foster, Prayer:Â Finding the Heart’s True Home
Love and Self-respect
“Even when no one else seems to recognize how truly remarkable we are, we always have ourselves, the one inexhaustible resource for positive reinforcement, the one person who will always proudly wave our personal flag.”
–Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love:Â Reflections on Loving, p. 16.
God’s Power to Heal
“Please, accept the word of this prodigal, without illustration, that God can solve all the problems we have created in our marriages. Our Creator knows that as human beings living in a sinful world, we often fail Him. He is ready to forgive us and rescue us and our marriages from satan.”
–Bob Steinkamp, Prodigals Do Come Home, p. 28.
Librarians
“We were there to celebrate some of the rare intelligence capabilities that our country can actually be proud of–those of librarians. I see them as healers and magicians. Librarians can tease out of inarticulate individuals enough information about what they are after to lead them on the path of connection. They are trail guides through the forest of shelves and aisles–you turn a person loose who has limited skills, and he’ll be walloped by the branches. But librarians match up readers with the right books: ‘Hey, is this one too complicated? Then why don’t you give this one a try?'”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually), p. 153
One Step at a Time
“God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependence upon God.”
–C. H. Mackintosh, quoted in Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan
“There is no failure where love is concerned.”
“As long as we continue to seek love, some failure is bound to occur. But hurt is a strong impetus for action. When we seek to find the causes of our failures, we always emerge wiser. We gain new alternatives for our old behaviors and acquire new resources for future encounters. This is certainly not failure. Rather, it is the way that produces lasting change. It is the way of insight and growth. It is the way of love.”
–Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love:Â Reflections on Loving, p. 7
Its Own Punishment
“I realized once again that we’re punished not for our hatred, for not forgiving people, but by it.”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually), p. 129
Living for Today
“Forgiveness is the powerful assertion that bad things will not ruin your today even though they may have spoiled your past.”
—Dr. Fred Luskin in Forgive for Good