Forgiveness is often a work in process!

I was reading an article this morning on forgiveness.  The article by Stan Guthrie in Christianity Today shared an application of the scriptural imperative to forgive with the practical lessons of Dr. Smeedes and his book Forgiveness - The power to Change the past.  Dr. Smeedes was one of professors when I attended Fuller Theological Seminary in the 1970's.  And of course Forgiveness is something every human being wrestles with throughout our lives.  Many times we say we forgive and yet in our deepest subconscious we wrestle with this God given emotion in ways that are difficult for us to understand.  Sometimes we coach others to forgive not realizing that this will really be a struggle.  It looks easy from our perspective but we are not seeing it from their shoes or seeing why forgiveness was sometimes so impossible that it took Jesus going to the cross to pull it off.  Smeedes who is now in heaven looking at this issue from a much deeper perspective said while he was on earth that three stages are invovled in the miracle of forgiveness.  Suffering is the first.  Forgivenesss does not mean that we passibely and unemotionally accept evil.  No, the very cooncept acknoledges that evil has been done and that suffering has resulted.  Dr. Smeedes said that forgiveness happens only when we first admit our hurt.  The second stage is spiritual surgery.  Dr. Smeedes as a psychologist works at communicating how God can go into the past do a surgery on our heart which begins to set us free.  And the third stage is starting over.  It is the beginning of a new journey together.  We must begin where we are, not anat an ideal pace for reunion.  Nasty questions  are unaswered, the future is uncertain; we have more hurts and more forgiving ahead of us.  Corrie Ten Boom once prayed after going through the Holocost, Lord Forgive me I cannot forgive.  Everyone of us are in this life long - God dependent, Grace sustained process of learning and applying God's forgiveness.