Review: Forgiving What You Can’t Forget
Reviewd by Jennifer Gingras
Summary
In Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, Lysa TerKeurst dives deep into the complex process of forgiveness, especially when the hurt feels too big, too raw, or too unfair to let go. Drawing from her own painful experiences—including betrayal, deep personal wounds, and heartbreak—she writes with honesty and vulnerability.
Review
I highly recommend this book for people of faith who struggle to forgive after deep hurt or betrayal. Lisa addresses this issue by examining the role of forgiveness, both for yourself and in relation to God’s part in that process. She views forgiveness as a process that is more than a one-time decision, and possibly requires establishing boundaries moving forward.
I truly appreciate the way Lysa uses both biblical knowledge and shares her personal experiences to walk through a difficult decision. She is always open and vulnerable in her writing, normalizing the difficulty of forgiving, even when we believe it is the right thing to do.
Quotes
“The truth is, you don’t have to keep suffering because of what other people have done to you."
"You can’t change what you’ve been through, but you can choose how the story is told from here."
“Staying here, blaming them, and forever defining your life by what they did will only increase the pain. Worse, it will keep projecting out onto others. The more our pain consumes us, the more it will control us. And sadly, it’s those who least deserve to be hurt whom our unresolved pain will hurt the most.”
“It is necessary for you not to let pain rewrite your memories. And it’s absolutely necessary not to let pain ruin your future.”
“You can’t fake yourself into being okay with what happened. But you can decide that the one who hurt you doesn’t get to decide what you do with your memories. Your life can be a graceful combination of beautiful and painful.”
“My broken perspective is not proof of His broken promises.”
“When your heart has been shattered and reshaped into something that doesn’t quite feel normal inside your own chest yet, forgiveness feels a bit unrealistic.”
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