I am continually amazed at the power for confession. The simplicity of asking God to forgive sin can release years of being stuck. This is what happened to V. She had spent ten years of her young life using drugs to forget the pain of her youth. The drugs covered her feelings of inadequacy. The more she used drugs however, the more she continued to fail in her life. The continued failure brought feelings of deep resentment toward herself. It also brought her to believe that she could no longer succeed in anything and therefore she feared moving forward. In our session she simply asked for forgiveness for the years of resenting herself. That week she was able to go forward with plans for school and felt free from the stuck feelings.

Not forgiving oneself is rarely seen as sin, or dealt with as such, but it is just as debilitating as unforgiveness towards others. In fact, it can be more debilitating. It must be dealt with as all sin is dealt with. Through asking for forgiveness of god and then changing our behavior and attitude towards ourselves.