Forgiveness sounds like a great idea until you’re the one who has to forgive.

I’ve had the opportunity to forgive many times in my life, and often, I’ve risen to the challenge, faced my resentments head on, and found a way to forgive people who have left me, cheated on me, gossiped about me, judged me, or stolen from me. That list could go on endlessly for me, and probably for every person on the planet. Perhaps longer yet is the list of the wrongs I’ve done to others; I’m no saint. I know the healing power of forgiveness from both sides.

In my life, there’s one person I have struggled with forgiving more than anyone else. I’ve done lip service to the idea of forgiving him before, but recently, I realized that I had never truly forgiven him.

This person is the man who raped me when I was…