Prayer for May 4, 2021

Forgiving God, you call us to forgive those who have sinned against us as we expect our own forgiveness.  Help us to understand what that means. When we are called to turn the other cheek, help us also to know when to walk away and not give others a chance to continually hurt us.  Give us the strength to know when we are to work hard to repair a relationship.  May we remove the stumbling blocks that stand in the way of us following the path to which you have called us.  Allow us to release the anger, anxiety and hurt that comes from carrying the burden of not fully forgiving someone who has hurt us, and understand that we also carry our own struggles in forgiving ourselves.  May we attempt to live into all that your atonement affords us.  May we know what it is to forgiven, healed, renewed.  Amen.