📝 Worksheet 7.4: My GRACE Forgiveness Practice
📝 Worksheet 7.4: My GRACE Forgiveness Practice
Purpose
This private worksheet helps you apply the GRACE Forgiveness Tool to a real or hypothetical offense.
You are not required to upload or publicly share your answers.
Forgiveness does not require you to:
deny abuse or wrongdoing
accept false responsibility
contact an unsafe person
violate a protection order
abandon legal or safeguarding processes
restore trust immediately
reconcile without truth or safety
disclose private trauma
When current violence, abuse, stalking, coercive control, or serious danger is present, prioritize safety and seek qualified local assistance.
Choosing a Situation
Choose one situation for this exercise.
You may use:
a past offense you are ready to consider
a smaller everyday offense
a fictional situation
Maria’s situation from the Growth Story
another non-identifying example
You do not need to choose your most painful experience.
The situation I will consider:
Beginning Check-In
What happens when you think about this offense?
Thoughts or Mental Rehearsals
Emotions
Bodily Responses
Relationship Effects
Spiritual Questions or Struggles
On a scale from 0 to 10, how strongly is this offense affecting you today?
0 — Not affecting me today
10 — Affecting me very strongly
My current level: __________
G — Ground Yourself in God’s Grace
Christian forgiveness begins with receiving God’s grace.
Read one or more of these passages:
Psalm 103:8–12
Romans 5:6–11
Romans 8:1
Ephesians 2:4–10
Colossians 3:12–13
1 John 1:9
Grace I Have Received
What mercy, forgiveness, patience, or new life have you received from God through Jesus Christ?
Grace Without Denial
How does God’s grace take sin seriously without abandoning the sinner?
Grounding Prayer
Complete this prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, you have shown me grace by __________________
____________________________________________________________.
Ground me in your love and truth as I consider this situation.”
R — Recognize the Truth
Forgiveness does not begin by minimizing the offense. It begins by telling the truth.
What Happened?
Describe the behavior without exaggerating or minimizing it.
What Was Wrong?
What boundary, promise, responsibility, command, or expectation was violated?
What Was Lost or Damaged?
Check any that apply:
☐ Trust
☐ Safety
☐ Time
☐ Money or property
☐ Reputation
☐ Opportunity
☐ Friendship
☐ Family connection
☐ Emotional well-being
☐ Physical well-being
☐ Spiritual confidence
☐ Another loss: ____________________________________________
Describe the most significant loss:
Responsibility Discernment
What responsibility belongs to the other person?
What responsibility belongs to me, if any?
What responsibility does not belong to me?
Is the Harm Continuing?
☐ No, the behavior has ended.
☐ I am uncertain whether it has ended.
☐ Yes, the behavior is continuing.
☐ The person still has access to harm me or others.
What protection, support, or accountability may be necessary?
A — Ask, Accept, or Act
More than one response may apply.
Ask
Do I need to ask God for forgiveness for anything in my response?
This does not make me responsible for another person’s wrongdoing.
☐ Cruel words
☐ Gossip
☐ Retaliation
☐ Dishonesty
☐ Manipulation
☐ Hatred
☐ Refusal to follow a wise process
☐ Another response: ________________________________________
A private confession to God:
Accept
What grace or truth from God do I need to accept?
☐ I am forgiven in Christ.
☐ I do not need to punish myself.
☐ Another person’s sin is not my identity.
☐ My continuing grief does not make me a failed Christian.
☐ I may establish wise boundaries.
☐ I may seek appropriate help and accountability.
☐ Another truth: ____________________________________________
My grace-based statement:
Act
Am I ready to begin or renew the act of extending forgiveness?
☐ Yes
☐ Not yet
☐ I am willing, but I need support.
☐ I need to begin with lament and truthful recognition.
☐ I need immediate safety or professional assistance.
A faithful next step:
C — Choose Release and Wise Repair
What Am I Releasing?
Check any that apply:
☐ Personal vengeance
☐ Fantasies of retaliation
☐ The desire to humiliate the offender
☐ Repeatedly recruiting others to take sides
☐ The demand that the offender understand everything immediately
☐ The demand that an apology occur before I can live faithfully
☐ False guilt for another person’s choices
☐ The desire to control the final outcome
☐ Another demand: _________________________________________
Write a release statement:
“I release my personal claim to _______________________________
and place final judgment into God’s hands.”
What Am I Not Calling Good?
Forgiveness does not change evil into good.
The behavior I continue to name as wrong is:
What Wise Repair May Be Needed?
Check any that apply:
☐ Truthful conversation
☐ Apology
☐ Restitution
☐ Repayment
☐ Return of property
☐ Correcting false information
☐ Pastoral guidance
☐ Mediation
☐ Counseling or professional support
☐ Safeguarding report
☐ Legal advice
☐ Law-enforcement report
☐ No direct contact at this time
☐ Another step: ____________________________________________
The next wise repair step is:
Boundary Discernment
What access, responsibility, information, or closeness is currently wise?
What access, responsibility, information, or closeness is currently unwise?
Forgiveness, Trust, and Reconciliation
Forgiveness: What personal vengeance am I releasing?
Trust: What evidence of reliability would be needed before trust grows?
Reconciliation: What truth, repentance, willingness, or safety would be needed before the relationship could be restored?
E — Entrust the Outcome to Christ
Some outcomes remain beyond your control.
Check any outcome you need to entrust to Christ:
☐ Whether the person apologizes
☐ Whether the person repents
☐ Whether restitution is completed
☐ Whether others understand what happened
☐ Whether the relationship is restored
☐ Whether trust can be rebuilt
☐ How long grief continues
☐ The consequences the offender experiences
☐ The future of the relationship
☐ Another outcome: _________________________________________
Entrustment Statement
“Jesus Christ, I entrust ______________________________________
to your wisdom, justice, mercy, and care.”
Forgiveness-Release Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
You know what happened.
You see the wrongdoing, the loss, and the continuing effects.
I refuse to call evil good.
I release my personal claim to vengeance and place final judgment into your hands.
Show me what truth must be spoken, what grief must be expressed, what responsibility belongs to me, and what responsibility does not belong to me.
Give me wisdom concerning boundaries, accountability, repair, protection, trust, and reconciliation.
I entrust the person, the memory, and the unresolved outcome to you.
Lead me in grace, truth, justice, mercy, and freedom.
Amen.
My Seven-Day GRACE Practice
When the memory returns, I will:
Ground
Remember this Scripture or grace statement:
Recognize
Name this truth without exaggerating or minimizing:
Ask, Accept, or Act
Take this faithful action:
Choose
Release this demand and maintain this wise boundary:
Entrust
Place this unresolved outcome into Christ’s hands:
End-of-Worksheet Check-In
On a scale from 0 to 10, how strongly is this offense affecting you now?
My current level: __________
A changed score does not prove or disprove forgiveness. It simply helps you notice your present experience.
My Main Insight
My Faithful Next Step
Support I May Need
☐ Prayer
☐ Trusted Christian friend
☐ Pastor or ministry leader
☐ Professional counselor
☐ Medical support
☐ Legal guidance
☐ Safeguarding assistance
☐ Domestic-violence services
☐ Another form of support: _________________________________