I honestly don’t know which is worse… Living a life full of atrocious sin and not caring about the consequences? Or pretending like everything is OK and you are a perfect, shiny Christian…all the while HIDING sin, hoping no one finds out. Both are absolutely miserable. Trust me, I know.

I can still remember the very first meeting I had with my mentor years ago. We were at a restaurant, Beverley and I had our Bibles out on the table, and I was proceeding to talk to her about my past and about my failures. It was obvious I was still carrying the burden of sin on my shoulders. It was obvious I had no self-confidence and I was keeping shame and guilt as my covering.

Beverley looked me straight in my eyes and said, “Why are you talking about my friend Rebecca like that? I happen to like my friend Rebecca.”

Wait, what? 🤔

“Have you already asked God to forgive you for those sins?”

“Yes.”

“Then God has forgiven you and He doesn’t even know what you’re talking about because MYYYYY Bible says (as she would always say about the word 🙂) He forgives us and throws our sins as far as the east is from the west. He throws them into the sea of forgetfulness. So when you keep bringing them up, it’s YOU who is remembering them. God has already covered you with love and has forgiven you.”

THAT my friends, was a total LIFE GAME CHANGER!!!

I wish I could say forgiving myself came as easy as that, but it didn’t. I had to learn how to continuously focus on God‘s love and I had to keep reminding myself that Jesus paid the price for my sin. The biggest thing I had to remind myself was the fact that even when I slipped up and fell into more sin, God was not standing over me with His arms folded, with angry eyebrows looking down His holy nose at me. He was actually waiting for me to be honest about my sin, confess my sin, find a Godly friend who could understand and help me process my sin and be set free from the patterns of sin.

Confession of sin unlocks a whole new way of living. Admitting our sins to a trusted Christian friend and of course admitting them to God is the first step to freedom. God said that WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRSIT DIED FOR US. He is the One Who always had the plan to FORGIVE US and wash us clean from those sins. When we truly understand the depths of His love and forgiveness, we are drawn in closer and closer to Him.

I know I’m not perfect and I am still a work in progress but at least I can run to the Father Who loves me and FORGIVES me even when I make those mistakes. He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It might be time for YOU to forgive YOU!

Take a few moments and pray and ask Holy Spirit to search your heart and simply confess to Him the dark parts. Then find a trustworthy friend to confess to and then allow God to throw them into the sea of forgetfulness. You’re forgiven! Now you can start the processes necessary to get free from that sin….in other words, learn how to stop doing it. That is a whole lot easier to do when you’re coming from a place of “FORGIVEN” and you’re not under the weight of shame and guilt. 🖤☕️