Advice about sticks, stones and other faulty childhood sayings...

I'm learning what forgiveness really means. Hurting doesn't mean you haven't forgiven...forgiveness doesn't mean you quit hurting. If someone kicks you in the shin even if you let it go and aren't mad anymore, you are still left with the bruise. Forgiveness is like that...or the process of it, anyway. But you can't focus on the bruise, can't remind the kicker of the bruise they inflicted, you can't stay hurt. It'll be there a while but eventually the bruise fades. You don't really even notice its leaving until it's gone. Don't beat yourself up if after saying and meaning that you've forgiven someone, you still feel the betrayal. Keep working through it, stay in the Word, allow God to speak to you. But know that it's normal for it to take some time. Physical bruises aren't gone in a day, emotional ones aren't either.