According to Robert and Jeannette Lauer, forgiving yourself can be the most difficult kind of forgiveness to practice, yet
not forgiving yourself can be corrosive to your well-being. Why must we forgive ourselves? Self-forgiveness is the natural corollary to God's forgiveness. Most of the book focuses on steps to how we can enact God's forgiveness into our lives and relationships.
The book, filled with stories, examples and encouragement, dispels some common myths about self-forgiveness:
- It is a way to let yourself off the hook
- You can't forgive yourself when you've hurt someone unless that person forgives you
- Forgiving yourself means you trivialize your offense - that you minimize the seriousness of what you have done
The co-authors pave the way for the reality that self-forgiveness is an act of love toward yourself and they show how you can rid yourself of destructive and unwarranted anger and guilt in order to restore your sense of self-worth as a child of God.
