A Prayer to Forgive a Parent

Father, this one cuts deep. The person who was supposed to protect me left marks instead, and I have spent years either defending them or aching over what I never got.

I confess I have built a wall around that old hurt, telling myself I am over it, while certain words or memories still make me feel small and unguarded all over again.

I will not pretend it was fine. It was not. But I am tired of letting their failure shape every relationship I have since. I bring my mother, my father, and all of it to You.

You command me to honor them, and I do not fully know how to do that with the wounds they left. So teach me. Honor does not mean denying the pain. It means refusing to let the pain rule me.

Heal the child in me that is still waiting for an apology that may never come. Be the parent who never leaves.

I forgive them, slowly, as an act of trust in You. Carry what they could not carry well. Father me where I was failed. Amen.