God does not give us salvation because we believe. Our believing is only the normal way of receiving the salvation he freely… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
God invented forgiving as a remedy for a past that not even he could change and not even he could forget. His… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving is, first of all, a way of helping yourself to get free of the unfair pain somebody caused you. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Gandhi was right: if we all live by 'an eye for an eye' the whole world will be blind. The only way… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The only way to heal the pain which will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiveness heals… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Jesus said that we should render to the state what properly belongs to the state, and though he had taxes in mind,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
God is the original, master forgiver. Each time we grope our reluctant way through the minor miracle of forgiving, we are imitating… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Lose hope and you die. They may not bury you for… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When we forgive someone, we do not forget the hurtful act, as if forgetting came along with the forgiveness package, the way… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Can you stop your memory on a dime, put it in reverse, and spin it in another direction the way you can… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Nothing is more private than a woman's body; it is her physical, emotional, and moral citadel. She cannot be free at all if she… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The God who has the whole world in his hands has grace for the whole world in his heart. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Nobody sees reality whole; we all need others to show us the parts of it that they see better than we do. Nobody sees… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we tell people… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
We feel properly embarrassed when we are caught doing something that makes us look inept, knuckleheaded, or inappropriate. Maybe the difference is this: we… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Gratitude is the best feeling I would ever have, the ultimate joy of living. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
