Forgiveness is defined in many ways, but no matter how you look it, forgiveness brings about a change in your future. From this standpoint, nothing is too big to be forgiven.

That which you do not forgive stands as a judgement over you. God does not judge you, you judge yourself by virtue of your actions. You have the power of forgiveness, but you must use it for it to have any meaning in your life.

You will receive as you give.

If you give those things that hasten death and amplify suffering for others, if you refuse to forgive, if you give out resentment and all the other things that condemn others to death, then you have written your own judgment of yourself and you will receive as you give.

Sometimes the experience of others puts our own woes into perspective. I recently listened to Jordan Peterson’s interview of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the Bedouin man who was suspected of terrorism and held in various CIA black sites and Guantánamo Bay for more than a decade without ever being charged with a crime. This was no ordinary prison experience, if there is such a thing.

Mohamedou was interrogated endlessly, physically, mentally, and emotionally tortured, sexually abused, and sent into a deep depression by his captors, the U.S. Government. Remarkably, this man who grew up in a small tribe in the North African desert had to sue the United States, the President of the United States, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense in the process, and he was finally granted his freedom and returned to his homeland…six years after winning that lawsuit.

Remarkably, astonishingly, and some may say miraculously, after twelve years of torture, interrogation, and depression (to whom would this not seem unforgivable?!?), Mohamedou chose to unconditionally forgive everyone involved on the understanding that he could not hold a grudge and truly live.

A movie about his experience was made, The Mauritanian, and I would highly recommend that you watch it, wrestle with it, and find your way to be a more forgiving person. Forgive deeply, completely, that your future, that your pattern of life might be healed and changed.

You will not receive on the basis of what you want, what you think you deserve, or what you would like to get. You will receive on the basis of what you give.