Mercy should not require victims to volunteer for another injury.

Extending grace is a real choice, and it should not be made with someone else’s safety. Asking the person who was harmed to stay in proximity, keep the relationship, or absorb the risk of a repeat is not mercy on your part; it is mercy paid for by them. Genuine leniency costs the person granting it.

Before you extend another chance, ask what it will require of the person who was hurt. If it requires them to be exposed again, the decision is not yours alone to make. Ask them, believe their answer, and be willing to accept a no without treating it as a failure of forgiveness.