Yesterday I blew it!  Last night as I was laying down for the night, like every night I was discussing the day with the Lord and I had to repent of the failures of the day.  We all have things that trip us up.  Sometimes its seemingly minor things like wishing you had done this or that differently and sometimes its sin, ugly sin, things you know God said no to and you couldn’t resist.  And yesterday,  I blew it!  I think about the words of Paul in Romans 7 when he is describing the two natures fighting within us…

“I don’t understand why I act the way I do.  I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate.” Romans 7:15 ERV

My apologizes to the Lord and requests for forgiveness poured from my heart and  I drifted off to sleep, resting in His grace and mercy.  When I woke up this morning I felt this shame from the failures of yesterday.  Why did I do that?  Why am I not stronger? Why?  What if I mess up again? The shame hung around my neck like a heavy cloak.  The enemy… he comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  He wants our future.  He wants us weighed down and frozen with the fear and shame.  He doesn’t want us walking in freedom.  God is faithful.  As I came before the Lord once again I laid my life down, I laid down that cloak of shame, and the heavy burdens the enemy had strapped around my neck and in return picked up His grace, mercy, and his burdens which are easy and his yoke is light.

My verse of the day on my Bible app describes the desire of my heart to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 ERV

God loves us! The good, the bad, and the ugly.  He desires for us to know him. He wants us to invite Him into our struggles.  There is nothing more refreshing in any relationship than to know someone completely and to be known by them.  There is something deep that happens when you find your people, a tribe of people who know you and love you no matter what.  God is even better than that.  He loves you, be encouraged today, he knows everything about you, he knit you together in your mothers womb, and he knows the number of hairs on your head, and he knows your deepest hurts, failures, and shame and he loves you.  Pursue Him!

AP