Forgiveness changes us from prisoners of our past to people who are at peace with our memories.  It frees us to move forward with our lives. Every person has a need for forgiveness and a need to forgive.  We have all wronged another person and we have all been hurt by someone else.  Likewise, most of us have recognized that there are mistakes we have made that we need to forgive ourselves for.  It is tempting to hold on to those feelings of anger, pain, and bitterness as a means of protecting ourselves or to punish the one that has offended us.  But we will never be able to reach our potential and have true hope for the future if we cannot forgive and move on emotionally. Read more .