Daily, I deal with forgiving those who have hurt me either intentionally or unintentionally. Daily, I pray for God s mercy so that I will walk in love with my fellow man. My life depends on the utterance, Forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me . I must forgive them because what I continue to hold onto will remain with that person and also with me. My trespasses will not be forgiven me.
Forgiveness is necessary for physical health because anger manifests itself in the physical.
For me it is migraine headaches. Many African Americans go through life expecting to become diabetic, or hypertensive, or even develop cancer. So many of us do develop these deadly diseases and I soundly believe that anger and unforgiveness are the causes. I look within my own family and see my mother, aunts, uncles and, now, cousins, all living with diabetes, diagnosed as they enter their 40 s and 50 s. I see cancer taking the lives of my cousins as young as 22.