*Forgiveness is not reconciliation.* Oh! Yes. Forgiveness is something that happens inside you. It's more internal though it affects the external. Reconciliation is something that happens between two people, and it requires both parties. For reconciliation to truly happen, there has to be rebuilt trust, restored safety, enough time for transformation. You can forgive someone completely and still decide, wisely, not to let them back into your life, especially where there has been abuse, betrayal, or threat to life. Forgiveness releases the debt and let's go of the offense while reconciliation restores the relationship. They are two different things, and one does not automatically require the other. *Forgiveness is not "out of sight, out of mind."* Suppressing the memory of an offense, avoiding the person, or simply not thinking about it is not forgiveness; it is avoidance. Avoidance leaves the wound untouched under the surface; it often resurfaces later as anger, anxiety, or an overreaction to something small that reminds you of the original hurt; this is transferred aggression. Forgiveness, by contrast, looks directly at what happened and makes a deliberate decision to release it. *Forgiveness does not depend on receiving an apology.* If forgiveness could only happen after the offender said "I'm sorry," then your healing would be permanently in someone else's hands and many offenders never apologize. Genuine forgiveness is a decision you make, regardless of whether the other person ever acknowledges the wrong they did. Waiting for an apology that may never come is one of the most common reasons people stay bound for a lifetime. Meanwhile, we never apologized to God for killing his son yet he forgave us and He admonishes us to be like Him;*_by this shall men know you're my disciples._* https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbC31bW5Ui2PKF0YvW0k/174