The process of forgiveness gets harder, humanly speaking, the deeper it goes. But, the good news is God will give us the ability and the power to do what he requires if we will simply obey. The last few steps don’t happen overnight, but they can happen if we will place our pain in his hands and trust his heart to fully heal us.

The next step is to start seeing the person who has offended or hurt us through God’s eyes. This means whenever we see that person or hear their name, we refuse to allow what is past to rule the present. This means we must remind ourselves over and over we have forgiven this person.

Very often when someone has hurt you, it is normal to have certain physical reactions like anger, fear, sweating, dread, nervousness, or a churning stomach when we see or think about that person. Our soul is afraid to go where our spirit wants to lead. So it reacts by creating physical issues we are forced to deal with.  We must bring these reactions under the truth of God’s Word and his Holy Spirit. That person is no longer our enemy. We must remind ourselves that the offender is also made in the image and the likeness of God. That person is someone God created and Jesus died for. We must remind ourselves of that as often as it takes.

Over time, the feelings we experience will subside and come under the authority of the truth. We have forgiven that person, therefore we don’t have to be filled with fear, or dread, or whatever the emotion.

On note here—forgiving does not mean you have to be that person’s bosom buddy or friend ever again. It simply means that person is no longer your enemy. You don’t have to resume a relationship but you must release them to God. This happens as you begin to see them through God’s eyes.