If only life had a delete button!

 Like I shared in my post "What would your sign say?" God has been putting it on my heart lately to share with you more of my personal story.  If you read my blog, you know I'm a Christian, but what was I like before?  Well...not too good.  If you can imagine it, it's happened to me, or I've done it.  I'm not sure I'm ready to share the details, but any way you fill in the blanks, you'd probably be right.  The video does a good job of explaining what I felt like.

Sometimes I wish that there were an "delete" button for parts of my life.  Do you ever feel like that?  There are so many things I wish I wouldn't have done, and sometimes guilt and shame gnaw at my soul.  I especially regret all the years I wasted by choosing to do things that I knew were wrong, totally out of communication with the God I had known.  But wandering off the path is subtle; it only takes a few missteps  sometimes to completely lose one's way.   I think of those times as wandering the desert, dying of thirst, while God would have quenched my thirst if only I had turned to Him.

It was about five years ago when I got down on my knees and surrendered once and for all.  I told God that my life would be His and I would do whatever He called on me to do.  I cried out to Him for forgiveness and I know that He did and does, but I found that it's harder to forgive myself.

God's Word has been a healing balm for my soul.  He says in Romans 8:1-2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

The price has been paid; it has been nailed to the cross.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.-Romans 5:1-2

If my great and holy God has mercy and forgiveness for me, then I must make amends where I can and accept the grace He freely offers.   Our enemy would love for us to keep seeing ourselves as the people we were before, because it takes away the joy of our salvation.  But we don't have to listen to him.  God says:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son-ship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. - Romans 8:15-16

And Psalm 103:12:. ..as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Father, I thank You for Your love and forgiveness.  Only You can truly transform us in the new creations that we are when we turn our lives over to You.  I pray that You will touch each one reading this with Your love; that You would wrap Your arms around them and fill them with Your peace.
In Jesus name, Amen.

As always, I wish you blessings :)

What is your gift?

I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.- Psalm 121:1-4

When I look up at the majesty of the universe, I am awed.  It's so easy to feel small and insignificant...but amazingly, God loves all of us with infinite compassion and mercy.  Though our lives may be as a vapor, he has use for each of us.
We all have different gifts and talents.  I always wished I could sing and glorify my Lord that way, but that is surely not my gift!  Some of us are teachers, some are preachers, prayers, listeners.  But whatever gift we've been given, God in His infinite wisdom has placed us exactly where He wants us.  It's up to us to prayerfully seek out His will for our lives.  Together we make up one body; some of us are hands, some are feet, and so on.
Whatever part of the body you are, working together our greatest task is to tell others of the mercy and grace we have in Christ; that we can be reconciled to our Father through His sacrifice.  For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.- John 3:17  
How can we not show others God's love in this dark and hurting world we live in, and help them to find a relationship with him?  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!- 1 John 3:1

This world is dying of thirst.  Let us give them "living water."

Let our words give hope.  Let us tell the lonely that the very maker of the heavens and earth loves each and every one of us with an incalculable love.  And because He loves us, He doesn't leave us to fight our battles alone.  Jesus promised to send us a helper, the Holy Spirit, who comes at our invitation.
When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.- John 16:13
In our own strength we can fight and even win some battles, sure, but when we trust our battles to the Lord He will not allow defeat.  He has already won.  Jesus told His disciples, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!"- John 16:33
Whatever trials and troubles we face, we too can take heart, for His Spirit within us cannot and will not fail.
Remember: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me-Philippians 4:13

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.- Psalm 46:1-2

May God grant you peace and surround you with His love.

(I changed the title of this post, so if you've read it before, sorry about that! But hardly anyone read it so I thought maybe this would be better.)