I know that forgiving others is required by our Savior, and the sooner we can do so, the sooner we will experience relief. However, to counsel a woman has been sexually abused by her father to ask him for HIS forgiveness for her hard feelings toward him is extreme, to say the least. Sexual abuse can take years, even a lifetime, for healing. Complete forgiveness is also often a process that takes time, depending on the seriousness of the abuse. A letter to him to let him know she had forgiven him would have sufficed, but to ask HIS forgiveness for the time she needed and deserved to work through this nightmare? NO!
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Maryann TaylorJune 15, 2021
I know that forgiving others is required by our Savior, and the sooner we can do so, the sooner we will experience relief. However, to counsel a woman has been sexually abused by her father to ask him for HIS forgiveness for her hard feelings toward him is extreme, to say the least. Sexual abuse can take years, even a lifetime, for healing. Complete forgiveness is also often a process that takes time, depending on the seriousness of the abuse. A letter to him to let him know she had forgiven him would have sufficed, but to ask HIS forgiveness for the time she needed and deserved to work through this nightmare? NO!
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