HIMPower Magazine May 2016 | Page 40

Inspiration Forgiveness Fitness by DiAnne Malone T he intensity of any workout depends on how much weight you have to lose. If you have a few pre-party pounds to drop to get in that cute little black dress you bought, a detox, some cutting back and a 10-minute bump up in your work-out routine will do you just right. BUT… If you have like 30, 40, 50, 100 pounds to get off, that’s going to take time and intensity. (WARNING–CLICHE): No pain. No gain. I’ve learned to think about forgiveness in this way. The intensity of the offense, usually dictates the time and process for forgiveness. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am NOT saying to deliberately take longer to forgive, if the offender has done the most! The decision to forgive should be swift; however, the PRO40 HimPower April 2016 CESS of forgiveness is a whole ‘notha animal. When first asked the question of how to forgive, I can truly say, I didn’t have an answer. Immediately though, because the ministry was needed so suddenly, God gave me the perfect example of how the process of forgiveness should go. True forgiveness is like a good workout. When I make up my mind to work out to drop the extra weight, I know how I will approach it. Once the decision is made, I go hard! I overdo it. My body has a hard time catching up. In an effort to outdo my husband on a fitness challenge a couple of years ago, I worked so hard in one session, I threw up all over the place. The struggle, even then, was real. To follow that intense work out was