Brittany Forgives

My name is Brittany Clark, I am 19 years old. I came over to Idaho from a town in mid/southern Maine. I came here to try and find myself, not in myself but rather what God has for me in life. Not really planning on dealing with my past, it was a surprise when, through various events in SOBA including our study of Philemon, I emailed my father saying that I forgave him and asking for him to forgive me for not forgiving him sooner. When I was young (the first 10 years of my life I think) he was less than a nice guy. Leaving me with quite a few negative ideals of myself, and of how love should be. I had known I should confront him about it one day, but always found reasons not to. But in reading Philemon we were shown through the word how important forgiveness was and is. I prayed a lot about it and God thankfully gave me the courage to email my father bringing up his treatment of me as a child. After more prayer before sending it one of my friends and I prayed more and in a dramatic event pressed the SEND button. The next morning I saw I had gotten a response but I couldn't bring myself to read it. Later that night another of my friends (from back home) talked me into reading it. My dad took it extremely well and I think it really opened up our relationship, though now that I am almost 3000 miles away I'm not sure how much that can blossom. Through finally confronting my father about it I hoped to be able to put it in my past and not have it as a crutch for why I fear so much. So now I hope to be able to get through my fears and be able to grow in who I am and in what God wants me to do with my life.