I have a bully for a husband. He is always putting me down and yelling. You have to forgive others—I do forgive him over and over. We’ve already celebrated 50 years of marriage. What I really can’t get past is the flashbacks I have of what he did to me years back. How do you forget the past? How do you forget when it keeps coming to your mind? If he found out I wrote this, I would have hell to pay!
It would probably be idealistic to suggest marital counseling or therapy after so many years of the status quo. But perhaps talking to a professional counselor could help you deal with your own feelings of anger and resentment. And if you are in a truly abusive situation, perhaps you can find help through an organization like Women Helping Women.
With that said, it seems to me you have forgiven and continue to forgive the wrong your husband has done you. You don’t have to feel good about what he has done to you! And if you’ve stayed with your husband more than 50 years, I presume there is some kind of love for him and that you see some good in him.
To forgive does not mean you have to forget. Sometimes our hurt and pain have been so great we can’t just erase the memories of them. And we will very likely remember how we have been wronged and try to avoid a repetition of it if we can.
Forgiveness means we rise above the hurt we feel and wish the wrongdoer well in the Lord. We renounce hate and the desire for revenge. We love the one who has hurt us. That doesn’t mean we have to get all warm and emotional. It means we wish the other person well despite the injuries and offensive conduct. It means we try to be decent and civil despite the provocations.
2 thoughts on “Should I Forget My Husband’s Abuse?”
Just read this w/response. I’m in the same situation. I would not have appreciated the response! She never said she was angry or had resentment. You have judged her as angry and resentful. She’s in a difficult situation where the flashback memories come back to her and is asking what to do. Same w/me. The flashbacks are there – from ten days ago to three weeks ago to years ago. She also did not need to to be told by you to go to counselling. She’s probably done this. I think you’re insensitive in your response. It’s the flashbacks that encircle her and she’s lost a life that she thought when she married her husband would have given good memories – not the bad ones she has.
I agree and am in the same situation, with one exception. I am angry. I don’t want the anger, but it lives inside of me. We tried counseling throughout our now 53 years together. I know now that I married a narcissist, who has physically, verbally, and mentally abused me throughout all these years together. Now he has himself declined physically to the point that he depends on me and other family members to take care of all his needs, the same people who he continues to berate, verbally abuse and manipulate as our very own “Armchair General”. I know I need to forget the traumas he has put me through. No matter what has happened in the past, just like every other human on this earth he deserves compassion and understanding now when he needs it the most. They didn’t have understanding or even a name for these problems during my generation. We were told to be good obedient wives. Never argue. Be a good wife and mother. Never tell anyone what you were going through at home. If there were problems in your marriage “you” were probably to blame. It may differ in ways from the original story’s told above, but the question remains the same. How do you forget and move on?