Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve (Paperback)

by Lewis B. Smedes (Author) "If you live long enough, chances are you'll be hurt by someone you counted on to be your friend..." (more)
Key Phrases: unfair pain, unfair hurts, fundamental feeling, Den Best, Cynthia Ozick, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Lewis B. Smedes ... sets us free to understand thatforgiveness can be not only a possibility but a reality." -- -- Dr. Robert H. Schuller

"Will give help as well as comfort to those who read it." -- -- Madeleine L'Engle, author of Certain Women

Product Description
For all of us who have been wounded by another and struggled to understand and move beyond our feelings of hurt and anger, Lewis Smedes's classic book on forgiveness shows that it is possible to heal our pain and find room in our hearts to forgive. Breaking down the process of healing into four stages and offering stories of real people's experience throughout, this wise book provides hope and solace for all who long for the peace that comes with forgiveness.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (May 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060674318
• ISBN-13: 978-0060674311
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #344,317 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning what love is, February 26, 2000

By	Nancy Kelley (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgive and Forget (Paperback)

My father used the parable at the beginning of this book as a sermon illustration while I was home over Christmas break. Three weeks later, I was struggling with some personal issues and remembered this book. I read it, and my entire outlook on life changed. I realized that what the angel says is right. "You cannot change the past, you can only heal the hurt that comes to you from the past. And you can only heal it with the vision of the magic eyes." In reading this book, I learned what it means to look at someone with eyes of love. It means that you see them as who they are, with no exclusions. They are people who hurt you, but they may also be people who have been hurt themselves, or who are weak in some area. You learn to see this and forgive them the hurt they dealt you. This is what love is.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Made forgiveness within my reach, May 27, 2002

By	Linda Jones (Nebraska) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Forgive and Forget (Paperback)

I've struggled with some very painful issues in my life, and read several other books on forgiveness, but they left me feeling like I could never do what they suggested, and did nothing to help me to heal from the painful things that others have done to me. With this book I found that many of the things I'd already gone through were a part of forgiveness, and made forgiving someone within my grasp. I learned that it wasn't necessary to forget about the painful experiences in order to forgive, or to condone the action of the perpetrator in order to be able to forgive them. I didn't need to excuse their behavior by putting myself in their shoes to try to understand why their behavior had an excuse. I borrowed this book from a friend, but after reading it, I decided it was too good of a book to not have a copy of my own.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fabulous and resourceful!!!, May 3, 2003

By	Erin Esposito "esposito" (Rochester, New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Throughout my life I've been betrayed by individuals - more times than I like to remember. And for so long, I've held grudges or feelings of being vindictive to those who hurt me. But after reading this fabulous and resourceful book, I have begun to trek down the road towards forgiving those who hurt me.

Life is too short to let anger fester inside of us. There's so much to enjoy in life and we shouldn't let our pasts constantly haunt us. This book provides excellent points and processes one can utilize in order to relieve themselves of such negative feelings and begin the process of healing. I particularly appreciated the author's writing style - that of adding stories and examples to model the processes.

For those who struggle to find it in their hearts to forgive others who have hurt them, this is, by far, the book to read!