Forgiven

You know those moments when God speaks to your heart loud and clear? Well I just had one of those. I went with my dad to his weekly Bible study that works with kids in prison. These kids have done some serious stuff, but a few of them show up for our weekly worship. I’ve been feeling pretty down lately (if you couldn’t tell by my earlier posts) so I didn’t really want to go tonight, but I went anyways. Boy am I glad I did. We watched The Nativity Story (great movie if you’ve never seen it) and something really struck me. One scene that really jumped out to me was when the shepherd reached out to touch Jesus, but pulled his hand back because he felt he was unworthy. Mary held Jesus out and said that He came for everyone, and then the shepherd reached his hand back towards Jesus while holding back tears. I didn’t show it but I was nearly in tears as well at that point. For the past six months I’ve been blaming myself for something I never did, for something out of my control. Through that I forgot what God’s grace felt like, I forgot that I was forgiven. I can imagine the devil in hell scheming “If sin won’t get Tay Tay let’s crush him emotionally!” You know what, I gave in to that tactic. I shot myself in the foot by telling myself that I am not worthy of God’s love. Yet I forget that this message of love oozes out of every page of the Bible. I forgot that the Bible is literally God’s love letter to man. I forgot that even if I were the last person on earth Jesus still would have died on the cross. It’s not about what I did or did not do, all that really matters is that no matter what we are forgiven by God. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I’m forgiven no matter what, the life I live is one of freedom not slavery to guilt. I thank God for His abounding love and grace that He showed me patience and brought me to the detention center tonight, for I found Jesus.