Freedom Starts With Forgiveness

Lately, I’ve been attending a small group at my church, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how much I could give. I’ve been in a season of personal struggle—betrayal, divorce, financial challenges, and the weight of recovering from deep personal trauma. And for a long time, I held onto this story, this narrative that I was okay. But the one thing I've maintained is that I'm OK! I'm gonna be ok. I'm... I'm NOT ok!

If I’m being real, I'm just not ok!

A couple of weeks ago, I broke. I hit a wall that I had been trying to outrun. I thought I was doing fine, that I could manage the pain, that I could keep going. But then something shifted. One night, in the quiet of my own thoughts, I realized I had been lying to myself. I wasn’t okay. Not at all.

When I say I broke, I mean I cried—uncontrollably—for two weeks straight. It wasn’t a single breakdown; it was like every ounce of pain and hurt I had been suppressing flooded to the surface all at once. I went through a season of quit. Maybe you know it—when everything feels like a battle, and the inner voice says, I can’t, I shouldn’t, I’ll fail. It was that season where I almost gave up on everything that brings me joy, everything that gives me purpose, including this ministry. My heart was so overwhelmed with that “quit” mentality that I couldn’t see beyond my own shame.

A Moment of Healing

But then, this week, something beautiful happened. I went back to my small group. My prayer partner pulled me aside for a one-on-one talk, and in that moment, I unloaded everything—every single piece of pain, frustration, anger, and confusion I had been carrying. I felt like I was just spewing it all out, like word vomit. Honestly, I’m not sure she even understood everything I said, but in that single, healing moment, I felt every emotion I had been holding back for months flood through me.

The topic of the night: forgiving yourself.

 I Forgive Me

And that’s when I realized the healing power of personal forgiveness. Not just forgiveness for the people who have hurt me, but forgiveness for myself—for allowing myself to feel broken, for holding onto the weight of my mistakes, my regrets, my fears. It’s not just about letting go of the hurt others have caused me—it’s about letting go of the hurt I’ve caused myself by holding onto guilt and shame. It's about silencing that inner voice that keeps trying to pull me back into my failures and the trauma, both the ones I didn't cause and the ones I didn't even realize were happening.

It’s funny how God works, how He orchestrates healing when you least expect it. As I shared my heart with my prayer partner, I began to feel a weight lift—like the pain that had been buried for so long was finally being washed away. And I was reminded of the verse in Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” God forgives us for His own sake—and in that, He offers us the most incredible gift: the freedom to heal, to grow, and to live without being weighed down by the past - for our own sake!

Forgiveness is not just for the people who’ve wronged us—it’s also for us. It’s for our own healing, our own peace. It’s for the freedom we long for, even when we don’t feel worthy of it. And in that moment, I felt it: the grace, the healing, the freedom that comes from letting go and accepting the forgiveness God freely offers.

Walking Worthy Starts with Forgiveness

This blog is about that journey—the journey of learning to forgive, not just others, but ourselves, and the freedom (and self-worth) that comes from walking in that forgiveness. If you’ve ever been in a season where you felt like quitting, where the weight of unforgiveness, whether toward others or yourself, was too much to bear, then this message is for you.

Live worthi.ly,

Anna G.