Week 9 - Forgiveness in Marriage

This week, I really wanted to focus on forgiveness. In his talk, “The Healing Power of Forgiveness”, Elder Faust talks about why we need to forgive. He said something that really hit me deep. He said:

“If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt and injury, we will ride to a higher level of self-esteem and well-being.”

I feel like I sometimes we have a hard time forgiving people when they wrong us. This quote really hit me hard because I want to be a confident person, and the only way to become one is to be forgiving of those that wrong us. I know that it’s hard sometimes, but if we rely on the spirit, then we can learn to have forgiveness better than without Him. Elder Faust also said

“People who are taught to forgive become ‘less angry, more hopeful, less depressed, less anxious and less stressed,’ which leads us to greater physical well-being”

I love that not only does forgiveness help me to have more self-esteem, but it helps me all-around physically. I think it’s important to do things that help you as a person to feel better physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I know that as we try to forgive our fellow men when they wrong us, we will be able to gain a deeper testimony of forgiveness. 

Forgiveness does not come easy, it has always been one of the hardest attributes for me to develop, but as I forgive those little things in my life, the easier it is to forgive the bigger things. I have found that when I practice this with my husband, I feel so much better about myself, just like Elder Faust said. Sometimes I am super prideful and want him to acknowledge that he did something wrong before I say anything, but as I have been taking this class I have tried to implement the things that I am learning into my life. I have found that when I put that pride aside and try to focus on forgiving my husband we don’t fight as hard, and our feelings of love return so much faster. Learning to forgive may be hard, but it is worth it!

I love this quote from Mother Teresa. I feel like the more we forgive our spouses for the little things that bother us, the easier it will be to forgive the bigger things. The more that we forgive the bigger things, the more we will love. If we want to be closer to our spouse and love them better, let us forgive them.