How We Can Be Like Jehovah An Fogive?

1-2. (a) Wen might be real hard fo fogive somebody? (b) How Denise wen show fogiveness?

AZ HARD fo you fogive oddas? Fo plenny of us can be hard, speshly wen somebody say or do someting dat hurt us. But get some tings dat we can do fo stop bein mad or offended an fogive oddas. Fo exampo, we go look wat wen happen to one sistah name Denise,a who wen fogive in one unreal way. In 2017, Denise an her ohana wen go visit da World Headqwatahs of Witnesses Fo Jehovah dat wen jus open up. Wen dey wuz driving back home, anodda driva wen lose control of his car an had crash into dem. Denise wen knock out in da accident. Wen she had wake up, she wen find out dat her kids wuz all bus up an her husban, Brian, had mahke. Wen Denise tink about wat wen happen, she tell, “I had feel broken an confused.” Layta on, she wen find out dat da driva no wuz drunk, not on drugs, or on his phone wen he had hit dem. So she wen pray to Jehovah fo have peace.

² Da driva dat wen hit dem an wen kill her husban wen get arrested an had fo go court fo dat. If da court rule him az guilty, den he could go prison. But da judge wen tell Denise dat wateva she tell in court would affeck if he go prison or not. Denise wen say, “Wuz jus like somebody wen rip open my stitches an dump a ton of salt in um, cuz I had fo go tru da hardes time in my life all ova again.” Few weeks layta, Denise wuz in da courtroom, ready fo give her testimony in front da guy who wen cause her family so much pain. Wat she wen say? Denise wen ask da judge fo show da guy pity.b Wen she wuz pau talking, da judge wen start fo cry. He tell, “In 25 years of bein one judge, I neva hea someting lidis happen in my court. I neva hea da victim’s family beg fo me show pity to da defendant. I neva hea words of love an fogiveness.”

3. Wat wen help Denise fo fogive?

³ Wat wen help Denise fo fogive? She wen tink about how Jehovah fogive an let us go. (Mic 7:18) Wen we real tankful dat Jehovah wen fogive us, we goin like fogive oddas.

4. Wat Jehovah like us do? (Fo Da Efesus Peopo 4:32)

⁴ Jehovah like us let oddas go jus like he wen let us go. (Read um Fo Da Efesus Peopo 4:32.) He expeck us fo be ready fo let oddas go wen dey hurt us. (Songs 86:5; Luk 17:4) In dis lesson, we goin talk about three tings dat goin help us fogive.

NO BRUSH OFF HOW YOU FEEL

5. Like wat Smart Guys 12:18 tell, how we might feel wen somebody hurt us?

⁵ Maybe somebody wen hurt you real bad cuz of someting dey wen say or do. An can hurt speshly if dey wuz one close fren or somebody in yoa ohana. (Songs 55:12-14) Sometimes, da pain we feel stay so bad we feel like we stay getting stab. (Read um Smart Guys 12:18.) Maybe we try fo brush um off or ignore how we feel. But wen we do dat, az like getting stab wit one knife an no do anyting about um. Same ting, we no can expeck da pain fo go away an feel betta if we jus brush off oua feelings.

6. How we might reack if somebody offend us?

⁶ Wen somebody offend us, maybe firs ting we come all mad. Da Bible tell dat sometimes we might get mad. But it warn us fo no stay lidat. (Songs 4:4; Efe 4:26) How come? Cuz plenny times how we feel goin affeck how we ack. An mos times tings no turn out good wen we stay mad. (Jam 1:20) Sometimes we no can help if we get mad wen someting happen, but we can control wedda or not we stay mad.

7. Wen somebody hurt us, wat odda tings we might feel?

⁷ We can feel hurt or soa in odda kine ways wen somebody treat us bad. Like one sistah name Ann tell, “Wen I wuz one kid, my dad wen leave my mom an marry my babysitta. I wen feel like my dad neva kea an wen leave me behind. Den wen dey had kids, I wen feel like dey wen take my place. So I wen grow up feeling like nobody want me. One sistah name Georgette wen say how she had feel wen her husban wen cheat on her, “We wuz frenz since small kid time. We wuz pionea pahtnas! My heart wuz broke.” Bumbye, dey wen get one divorce. An one sistah name Naomi tell, “I neva thought my husban would hurt me. So wen he had tell me dat he wuz looking at porn an hiding um, I wen feel so stupid an I neva trus him anymoa.”

8. (a) How come we should fogive oddas? (b) How come iz goin be good fo us wen we fogive? (Go look da box “Wat If Somebody Wen Hurt Us Real Bad?”)

⁸ We no can control wat odda peopo say an do to us, but we can control wat we do. Plenny times da bes ting fo do iz fo let dem go. How come? Cuz we love Jehovah an he like us fo let oddas go. If we stay mad an no fogive, we probly goin do someting dumb an maybe even hurt ouaselfs. (Smart Guys 14:17, 29, 30) Try look one sistah name Christine, she tell, “Wen all I tink about iz how hurt I stay, I no smile az much. I start fo eat plenny junk food, I no get nuff sleep, an iz hard fo me control my moods, an dat affeck how I treat my husban an oddas.”

9. How come we should let go oua hurt feelings?

⁹ Even if da person dat wen hurt us no tell us sorry fo wat dey wen do, we can keep wat dey did from hurting us moa. How we can do dat? Georgette, who we wen talk about earlia wen tell, “Wen take time, but I wen let go my hurt feelings an wen stop bein mad wit my ex-husban. Afta dat, I wen feel real good an had peace.” Wen we let go oua hurt feelings, we stop um from taking ova an making us treat oddas bad. An dat can be good fo us cuz we can stop tinking about wat wen happen an move on wit oua life. (Smart Guys 11:17) But even afta you undastan how you feel, wat if you still not ready fo fogive?

DEAL WIT HOW YOU FEEL

10. Why should we give ouaselfs time fo let oua feelings heal? (Go look da pichas.)

¹⁰ How you can stop feeling all mad or hurt? One way iz letting some time pass fo you heal. Like if you get hurt real bad an you go doctas fo get fix, yoa body still need time fo heal. Same ting, we might need time fo let oua feelings heal befoa we stay ready fo fogive somebody from da heart.​—Teacha 3:3; 1 Pet 1:22.

11. How praya can help you fo fogive?

¹¹ Pray to Jehovah an ask him fo help you fo fogive.c Ann, who we wen talk about befoa, tell how praya wen help her. She tell, “I wen ask Jehovah fo fogive ery one of us in da family fo da tings we wen say or do dat no wuz right. Den I wen write one letta to my dad an his new wife an wen tell dem dat I had fogive dem.” Ann wen say dat doin dat no wuz easy. But she tell, “I hope dat cuz I wen try copy Jehovah an fogive, dass wat goin help my dad an his wife like learn moa about Jehovah.”

12. How come we should trus Jehovah an not oua feelings? (Smart Guys 3:5, 6)

¹² Trus Jehovah, not yoa feelings. (Read um Smart Guys 3:5, 6.) Jehovah always kno wass bes fo us. (Isa 55:8, 9) An he neva goin ask us fo do someting dat goin hurt us. So den, wen he tell us we should fogive, we can kno fo shua dat iz goin be good fo us. (Songs 40:4; Isa 48:17, 18) But if we ony trus oua feelings, we might neva be able fo fogive oddas. (Smart Guys 14:12; Jer 17:9) Naomi, who we wen talk about befoa tell, “At firs, I wen feel like I neva need fogive my husban fo looking at porn. I wuz sked dat he wuz goin hurt me again or dat he wuz goin foget how bad he had hurt me. I wen figga dat Jehovah undastan how I feel. But I wen start fo see dat jus cuz Jehovah undastan how I feel, dat no mean he agree wit um. He kno how I feel an dat it take time fo heal, but he like me fo fogive too.”d

START FO FEEL BETTA

13. Wat Fo Da Rome Peopo 12:18-21 show we gotta do?

¹³ Wen we fogive somebody dat wen hurt us bad, we like do moa den jus not talk about wat wen happen. If da person dat wen hurt us iz oua Christian braddah or sistah den we like make peace. (Mat 5:23, 24, NWT) Instead of feeling mad, we choose fo give um chance an let dem go. (Read um Fo Da Rome Peopo 12:18-21; 1 Pet 3:9) Wat can help us do dat?

14. Wat we should try oua bes fo do, an how come?

¹⁴ Jehovah choose fo see da good in peopo. So we should try oua bes fo copy Jehovah an look fo good qualities in somebody dat wen hurt us. (2 Rec 16:9; Songs 130:3) If we expeck somebody fo have bad qualities, den we ony goin see dose bad tings. An same ting, if you expeck somebody fo have good qualities, you goin find dose good tings. Wen we look fo da good in somebody, goin be moa easy fo us fogive dem. Like one braddah name Jarrod tell, “Az moa easy fo me fogive one braddah wen I tink about plenny good tings I like about him, instead of tinking about how he wen hurt me.”

15. How come iz good fo tell somebody dat you wen fogive dem?

¹⁵ Anodda importan ting dat we should tink about doin iz fo tell da person dat we fogive dem. How come? Try look wat Naomi from befoa had tell, “My husban wen ask me, “You fogive me?” Wen I had try fo say “I fogive you,” I no could say um. Dass wen I had see, I neva really fogive him in my heart. Ova time, I wuz able fo tell him dose three powaful words, “I fogive you.” Wen I had fogive him, my husban had cry. I wuz surprise fo see how much betta he had feel an I wen feel betta too. Afta dat, I wen learn fo trus him an we stay bes frenz again.”

16. Wat you wen learn about fogiveness?

¹⁶ Jehovah like us fogive oddas. (Col 3:13) But still yet, can be hard fo us fogive oddas. But we can do um if we no brush off how we feel an we try fo deal wit oua feelings. Den we can do tings fo start feeling betta.​—Go look da box “Three Tings You Can Do Fo Fogive Oddas.”

TINK ABOUT WHY AZ GOOD FO FOGIVE

17. How come az good fo us fogive oddas?

¹⁷ We get plenny reasons fo fogive. We go talk about some of dem. Firs, we like copy oua Faddah Jehovah, an make him happy. (Luk 6:36) Secon, we show we tankful dat Jehovah wen fogive us. (Mat 6:12, NWT) An third, iz betta fo oua healt an we goin keep oua frenships strong.

18-19. Wat can happen cuz we choose fo fogive?

¹⁸ Wen we fogive oddas, good tings can happen dat we neva expeck. Try look wat wen happen to Denise, from befoa. At dat time she neva kno dat da guy dat wen hit dem wuz goin kill himself afta his trial. But he wuz so tankful dat Denise wen fogive him, dat he wen start fo study da Bible wit Witnesses Fo Jehovah.

¹⁹ We might feel dat fogiving somebody iz one of da hardes tings we goin eva have fo do, but it can be one of da bestes tings we do. (Mat 5:7, NWT) So den, we all go try oua bes fo copy Jehovah an fogive.