DAY 25 – SAY A PRAYER FOR SOMEONE WHO’S HURT YOU

THEME: RADICAL GRACE

FOCUS: FORGIVENESS, HEALING, AND RELEASE

PRACTICE:

Find a quiet space and gently bring to mind someone who has hurt you—whether recently or in the distant past. There’s no need to relive the pain or justify their actions. Simply name them before God.

Then, offer a simple, honest prayer:

“God, I release this person to You. May they find healing, wisdom, and peace.”

You don’t have to feel ready to forgive completely. This is not about denying the hurt. It’s about taking one small step toward freedom—yours and theirs.

REFLECTION:

Praying for someone who has caused us pain might feel counterintuitive—or even impossible. Yet this practice isn’t about excusing harm. It’s about releasing the grip that bitterness and resentment can hold on our hearts.

When Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), He wasn’t calling us to a passive faith. He was inviting us into the kind of radical grace that transforms the world—starting within us.

This kind of prayer may feel small, even awkward. You might pray with clenched fists or tear-filled eyes. But each word becomes a chisel, gently cracking open the hardness that pain can leave behind. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or pretending. It means choosing not to be defined by the wound.

What did this prayer stir in you? Relief? Anger? Peace? Did you feel lighter—or more resistant? Trust that God meets you there, in the complexity, and walks with you through it.

SCRIPTURE:

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

— Ephesians 4:32 (NRSV)

This isn’t a command to rush healing. It’s an invitation to walk the same road of grace that we ourselves travel daily. Forgiveness isn’t always fast, but it is freeing. Every step toward compassion softens the soil where reconciliation can grow.

PRAYER:

Merciful God,

You know the wounds I carry and the ones I’ve caused.

Today, I offer You the name of someone who hurt me.

I don’t have all the answers,

but I choose to trust You with the pain.

May healing come—for them and for me.

Amen.