In order for us to be able to forgive others we must fully understand what forgiveness means, and that not only means accepting God’s forgiveness, but learning to forgive ourselves as well. Often times even though we’ve accepted God’s forgiveness intellectually, we have not internalized that forgiveness because we have not fully understood grace, which means that even though God does not hold our sins against us, we still do. This keeps us trapped in shame and regret. But if we are going to accept God’s forgiveness that means that God’s declaration of forgiveness holds a higher authority over our lives than whatever internal accusations we proclaim against ourselves, and we must learn to let those go and fully see our identity as forgiven children of God so that we can give forgiveness to others.