The Gift of Forgiveness by Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt

Synopsis: The next book I am choosing to review is a book by Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt. I found this book to be very inspiring and powerful. It is a book of inspirational, true stories and interviews from individuals whom have learned how to forgive in circumstances that seem almost impossible.

Some of the individuals included are Elizabeth Smart who learned how to forgive her kidnappers, Sue Klebold, whose son Dylan was one of the Columbine shooters, and Chris Williams, who forgave the drunk teenager who killed his wife and child.

Katherine also discusses how she learned to forgive in her own life.

Review:

There were several quotes that stood out to me while I read this book.

The first quote was “When we learn to embrace forgiveness, it opens us up to healing, hope and a new world of possibility.”

I have found this in my life personally to be true that when I have forgiven people whom have hurt me that I have become a more healed and freer person.

Another quote that stood out to me was by Joel Osteen “When we don’t forgive, we’re not hurting the other person. We’re not hurting the company that did us wrong. We’re only hurting ourselves.”

This was another lesson that I have learned in my adult years that not forgiving people who have hurt me is only hurting myself.

The final quote that stood out to me from this book was by Elizabeth Gilbert, “Embrace the lessons when you finally learn them, forgive yourself for what you did not know earlier, and move forward in grace, and peace, and self-compassion. What this means to me is that when I have learned to forgive myself for my mistakes and embraced the lessons I have learned, I am able to move forward as a more peaceful, compassionate and graceful person.