When I came to faith, and someone told me that forgiving my abuser was needed for deliervance, I was like "what the heck God are you nuts?. This man put me through unbearable abuse at a very young age, and you expect me to forgive him?"

God spoke to me very clearly. "I forgave you from a death sentence, who are you not to forgive?"

The bible and particullary the new testament is very straight up about forgiveness

Mathew 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you

Mark 11:24-25 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Mathew 18:35 35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

To name but a few of the scriptures that talk about forgiveness

For me it was a case of every day for months saying "I will and want to forgive *name* for the things he did to me. Lord I cant do this on my own and I ask for your ability to help me to forgive this man" I'd tried to say I forgive him, but hadnt been able to get the words out...
One day I said "lord I forgive *name* for what he did to me". It caught me by surprise, and I said it again to make sure I hadnt imagined it. AsI moved from a state of unforgiveness against this person, to forgiving this person, strongholds were broken of my life.

Forgiveness is not so much about the other person, rather us gaining the freedom that Christ so desperately wants for each one of us... So many people have told stories of teasing in school, for many years, and one day they met their tormenter again. The person doing the tormenting had long forgotten about it, but the person who was tormented lived with the memory every day for many years, unforgiveness has kept the imjured party in bondage

Forgiving doesnt mean you are required to line yourself up for more of the same treatement, for example was the man who abused me still alive I would not put my niece of nephews in a situation where he could do the same to them.

Forgiveness is in no means easy, however the freedom that comes with it, is undescribable

To those of you who have been abused, and it still impacts on your today. Start forgiving the people who hurt you, even if you have to say every day "I want to forgive the person who hurt me". Because I can gurantee, that as you move towards forgiving those who hurt you, you will see stuff happen in your life.
Also important to know I think is that forgiveness isnt a one time thing, especially if the person who hurt you continues to do so. I found at times i had to keep saying "I forgive *name*...