She sat listening to the preacher who was teaching on forgiveness. "I have forgiven others. All the people that hurt me, I have forgiven them. So I'm free", she said in her heart. As if he heard her thoughts, the preacher asked, "Have you forgiven yourself?" She paused, "What does he mean? Forgive myself, what for?" He continued, "You have to let go of the hurt. You need to forgive yourself. That's the first step to healing. You think you've let go until something happens and you feel that pain and hurt as fresh as it was when it first happened. You begin to hate and condemn yourself over and over again, sometimes even worse than you did before. 

Sometimes, it isn't our fault it happened but we have built ourselves and our reasoning to believe that it is our fault and we constantly beat ourselves for it. Other times, it is our fault but must we continue to dwell in the past? What has happened has happened. There is no going back. We can only forge ahead and try not to make the same mistake again."

He ended by saying," Forgiving yourself is the first step to healing. It is not as simple as it seems. Most times, we don't even know that we are holding a grudge against ourselves. We just have to look deeply to realize it. Dear brethren, don't you think it is time to let go? Forgive yourself first and watch your healing begin." 

She broke into tears after she heard that. That was when she understood that she hasn't fully let go. She had blamed herself all these while for what happened. It's time to let it go. It's time to heal completely.