The Depths of God's Forgiveness

As a parent I fail all the time... I fail as a daughter, wife, sister in law, friend... etc.  We are not perfect people and we don't make perfect decisions all of the time.  Reading this mornings devotional I was reminded of this AND the depth of forgiveness God gives us that we should return to others.  While the devotional was centered around sin, I don't always just ask for God's forgiveness when I sin... I ask it daily for mistakes I feel I've made. 

Where is another God like you, who pardons the sins of survivors among his people? You cannot stay angry with your people forever, because you delight showing mercy.  Once again you will have compassion on us.  You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised with an oath to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.
Micah 7:18-20

Karol Ladd brings up the infamous Titanic scene when Rose gently parts with her diamond necklace.  To us, it seemed like a really expensive waste, but to her, it was a symbolic experience of being freed from the past.  In the scripture above, we are reminded that God tosses our sin into the deepest depths of the ocean - freeing us from the guilt that sin can carry. 

As moms, we carry a lot of guilt.  For me, its often times guilt I bring upon myself (did I play with Pax enough this morning?  am I working with him enough on his talking?  did I raise my voice to loud when I was angry with him?) Are these sins... heck no.  They are my own self judgments that cause me to carry unnecessary guilt.  Don't we all do this to some degree?  The amazing thing is though, we have a God who once we confess and ask for forgiveness... grants it to us and forgets about it.  I want to be able to do the same. I want to treat others with that same compassion and understanding and most certainly want to teach Paxton that if he can be honest with himself and others he WILL be forgiven.  I want to give mercy to others, not judgment and be the example for him, show him that we have a God who loves us and forgives us for things we cannot forgive ourselves for. 

I am so thankful for a God who doesn't judge me... there is enough of that in the world right now, and I am so full of peace knowing that He takes my sin (no matter how tiny or big, shortcomings and all of the above) and tosses them into the depths of the ocean!

Choices to make this week:
-This week I will choose to receive God's mercy, I will show mercy towards others, I will walk humbly with God, knowing that he has pardoned me and loves me with unfailing love.

Prayer from Karol Ladd:
"Wonderful, loving and forgiving God, I praise you for your faithfulness and unfailing love.  Thank you for forgiving me of all my sins through Jesus.  Thank you for throwing those sins into the depths of the ocean.  Help me not to fish them out again! I want to live in the freedom you desire for me.  Guide me to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you everyday of my life.  In Jesus's name I pray, amen!"

   

Delighting in God's Blessings

The answered prayer.  We have all desired for our most personal prayers to be answered and over the course of our lives some have been answered exactly like we would want, others have not been our chosen outcome and others are still in the process of being unfolded.  

If ya'll remember correctly, when I started this blog and made my first post HERE, I made it known that I was reading a devotional by Karol Ladd each Monday to learn and grow and that I wasn't an expert.  Today's scripture comes from a book of the bible I was unfamiliar with and comes from a story I had not heard before.  

"I asked the Lord to give me this child, and he has given me my request.  Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life."  And they worshiped the Lord there. 
Then Hannah prayed: "My heart rejoices in the Lord! Oh, how the Lord has blessed me! Now I have an answer for my enemies, as I delight in your deliverance.  No one is holy like the Lord!  There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."

1 Samuel 1:27-28; 2:1-2

Hannah, the woman praying above, was saddened for years and years for not being able to concieve a child and was also ridiculed for years by others.  She prayed to God every day and as time went on got more and more saddened that she hadn't had a child yet, still she prayed.   She wondered how God would let her suffer so much, but God had a plan.  Out of her perseverance and prayers to God she eventually had a son named, Samuel .  He grew up to be a faithful servant of God and a leader.  This scripture above shows the joy in the Lord she had when she had her son and the thanksgiving she showed him out of her joy!  The example of Gods perfect timing and the praise we should give Him when our prayers are answered.

 

What I learned today is that as moms, we should strive to pray to God with peace knowing that He has a plan for us, for our families, for our children.  We should find joy in the answering of that prayer - whether its what we saw coming or not.  Its so easy to drop to our knees and pray and lay our needs out before the Lord, but its not as easy (or easy to rememeber) to praise God and thank Him when our prayers are "answered" - whether its what we "wanted" or not.  I am going to try and take a moment each day this week to stop and thank God for all that he has blessed me with and even though Pax is little, he knows we pray and I'm going to pray special prayers with him thanking God for all he has.  Have you seen the movie "Facing the Giants?"  If you just answered no, then you must see it.  Its basically the gist of this devotional, you praise God no matter what - and in time, he will bless you.  (Matthew and I have a copy I can mail to you if you want to borrow it)   

 

Choices this week:    

• This week I will choose to give all my cares, concerns and requests to God in prayer.
• This week I will choose to spend more time thanking God and delighting in his blessings.
• This week I will choose to teach my children to thank God in their prayers.

Prayer:

"Lord, I praise you, for you are good and you are powerful.  I praise you because you have a plan for my life.  I trust your plan.  Thank you for all the ways you have already moved and worked on my behalf.  You have blessed me so much! Thank you for being my rock and my refuge as I wait on you for the blessings to come.  Be glorified in my life!  In Jesus's name I pray, amen."

 

You know, I have some very personal and heavy prayers I have been praying lately, it hadn't occured to me that maybe the reason God hasn't responded to those prayers yet was because I haven't been as diligent and heartfelt with my thanks for all he has answered.  It's much easier to view the glass half empty than half full sometimes, just being honest... you know its true.  I know I am a blessed girl, I tell myself that all the time.  But do I tell God? :/  I'm gonna suck it up and find more "Delight in God's Blessings" this week - I hope you can too!