Reminded Again:)

"Jesus loves you."

"You're forgiven."

"Our God is great."

hearing a saying your whole life can desensitize you to the message. i've heard these since grade school. over time i have come to say them, but not grasp the true meaning. my mouth was cut off from my emotions. last night the youth experienced a unique worship service. they silently and individually went over attributes of God posted on the wall. the purpose was to let them self-discover what those attributes meant to them personally. then we went to a music service. throughout the songs i sat in the back of the hall and just had an intimate moment with my Lord. i sang at the top of my lungs, danced in my aisle, and let Him work in my heart. He took that and reminded me of a few things.

My God is patient: He never gives up on me.

He is love. My heart felt truly enveloped in His all-consuming passion for me...the girl who sins against Him, who turns my back on Him, who is selfish and ungrateful. He loves me. Last night i was overcome with affection towards Him. How great is our God! i get to serve a God who i offer nothing to yet He offered me His best: I have the hope of a life spent with Him! Praise be to God! im weak and poor, but ALL i have is His, every single breath i breathe, every single moment He gives me on this earth. it is His!

the other thing He reminded me of last night, and i dearly love Him for this, is that my sins are paid for. im always the girl with the guilty conscience. i hold on to my mistakes after ive asked for forgiveness, they weigh me down and make me feel ashamed. However, last night as i wrote my confessions on a slip of paper and taped it to a cross, i thought about exactly what i was doing: i was placing the weight of my transgressions onto my Savior's shoulders as He died. I was nailing the nail in His perfect hand. I was spitting into His unblemished face. I was casting my sins at His feet, begging for mercy and for forgiveness. and you know what He did? He took them and loved me in spite of my screw ups. I am in awe of my amazing God.

so guess what world? MY SINS ARE GONE! they are wiped clean, payed for. FORGIVEN! no more. Forgotten! as far as the east is from the west! at the bottom of the ocean floor. Jesus paid it all. and all to Him i owe. sin had left me stained with the deepest stains. but He chose to wipe them white as snow. That is why i love my God. and that is why i praise Him with every fiber of my being.

so take heart. have hope in the Lord. because He forgives, forgets, and loves endlessly.