Forgiving is from the heart and forgetting is from the mind.
Many times, it is much easier to forgive than to forget, especially when a HUGE wrong has been committed against you, or those that you love dearly.
Requiring deep healing to forget, that's when you humbly ask The Holy Spirit for his assistance as "The Comforter".
Realistically, it may take a lifetime or even never, to forget a murder, rape, sexual molestation, total financial ruin due to cheating, etc., that occurred to you or someone in your family.
Here are some proven methods to eliminate intrusive thoughts via
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THOUGHT CONTROL:
° firmly saying to the thought, “Stop!” either out loud or in your head
° substituting a more pleasant thought or image for the unpleasant one
° visualizing a STOP sign when the thought comes up
° making noise to stop the thought, such as snapping your fingers or clapping your hands
° see the thought like a streaming cloud and gently whisk it away
° view the thought on a blackboard and watch yourself erasing it
When my attorneys lied to me in 1977 in Santo Domingo and claimed that my "divorcio al vapor" (instant divorce) would be valid all over the world, I really believed it.
Divorced in San Cristobal, the same mountain village that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton split-up in, I later found out that I was married to 2 women in California!
Feeling extremely guilty and unable to eliminate my 1st wife in San Francisco from my mind, I sought the help of a very powerful Christian leader in Puerto Rico.
She counseled me in how to visualize my 1st wife's name on a school blackboard, and then slowly and methodically erase her name.
This mental exercise took a few weeks, but thank God, it worked.
And God knows all of the mistakes that we have committed:
° the hateful acts
° the unforgiving attitudes
° the prejudice
° the greed
° the lust
° all the lies
° the bad decisions we have made
Yet, He has eternally forgiven all of our sins.
And forever banished them by His Son's death on the cross.
There is no limit to God’s love:
° King David the adulterer and murderer was forgiven
° Saint Paul the murderer of Christians was forgiven
° Saint Peter the liar and denier was forgiven
And based on my grave sins and Divine Intimacy with Our Merciful Lord, I know that He would have forgiven Judas Iscariot, had the ultimate betrayer asked for forgiveness.
Christ Jesus cried from the cross, "It is finished!"
Our Savior and Redeemer knew right there and then, that He had atoned for the sins of all humankind and that all of us were forgiven.
Saint Paul scribes in Ephesians 4:31:
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, FORGIVING each other just as in Christ, God FORGAVE YOU."
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