No matter what

Posted in By Misti Runyan 1 comments

Last Friday I was driving down the road with a heavy burden on my heart. Many things happening all at once in my life had begun to take a toll on me. I had the radio on, as usual, and a song came on that I'd heard a hundred times. Suddenly, though, the Lord focused me in on the lyrics. Check it out:



I began thinking about the thing that has burdened me the most: a mistake I made a couple years ago. What I did caused a lot of hurt to my family, and the ripple-effect of that one choice is still hanging over my head as a possible consequence. At the time, I prayed to God, asking for His forgiveness, but  I still couldn't let it go. I couldn't forgive myself, and so I couldn't believe that my family or God had forgiven me either. As months have passed, this burden has become heavier. It invades my thoughts daily, and it affects my relationships with my loved ones--and with God.

As the singer tells about building up walls, mine become tangible to me. As he pleads with us to let them fall down, I hear the Lord say to me, "I have seen every mistake you will ever make, and I still love you." That is the most comforting thing I can think of: God knows the mistakes I haven't even made yet, and His forgiveness is available for those too!

Life is tough. There's a lot of pain out there. Some of it will come from our own choices, some from circumstances outside of our control. When we can't bring ourselves to accept forgiveness for sins, we torture ourselves with unnecessary hurt. I read something on Facebook the other day: "Sometimes, when we evict Satan, we let him leave his bags behind." Guilt is Satan's bag. I think it's high time we throw it out.