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Written by Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), an American author. This is an excerpt from her book “Something More.”

The ‘how” of forgiveness is through knowing how to use our will – the rudder of our life. We are responsible for the set of this rudder; once we have willed a course of action. God will be responsible for our feelings if we will hand them over to Him. Otherwise, nothing we can do would change these feelings. When I put that conclusion alongside David du Plessis’ statement, “Forgiveness means, ‘the other person may be as wrong as wrong can be, but I’ll not be the judge,’” I saw that forgiveness is simply the decision of our wills to release a particular person, followed by verbalizing that to God. As for faith that such a non-emotional release would result in changes in the other person’s life I confess that we began with deficient faith. The process of releasing the ‘aughts’ seemed too simple, too pat. We were about to be shown that when we follow Jesus’ direction, the simplest ways are the most powerful.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  [Luke 6:37]