Embrace Your Forgiveness

“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”  - J.K. Rowling

I saw this quote the other day and it truly moved me. I thought about how God is our rock in life and no matter if we are at the bottom or the top He is our foundation. I also was moved by the message of rebuilding from the destruction and ashes of your world.

The truth is that as long as God has given you another day here on Earth, you have another day to redeem your life and take charge of your problems. We often just throw in the towel and say that there is no hope.

I do this often. If I do one thing wrong instead of holding my head high and walking through my mistake to come out stronger, it seems I begin to believe that my mistakes are what define me.

The other day my oldest daughter was acting out and I was becoming very frustrated. It was almost as if there was no getting through to her. Anything I said she would ignore and continue to antagonize her brother and sister. I tried punishing her and putting her in her room and other disciplinary tactics, but they also were in vain.

Later that night, I woke up to find a note on my door. It read, “Mommy please forgive me. I was bad, but now I’m sorry.”

I went to her room and on her door I found a note that said “Dear Mommy, I’m leaving home.” I felt sick when I read this. How can my seven year old want to leave home and why?

I woke her up and asked her about the notes. I also asked her why her behavior was so out of hand lately.

She replied, “I’m already bad. I can’t be good. You’re mad at me.” The thing was it was her own guilt making her feel that way. I was not acting mad at her nor was I doing anything more than responding to the bad behavior she was exhibiting.

I explained to her that discipline is something we all need, even as adults. That’s why we have the word of God. The Bible is our ultimate guide book.

She told me that she felt that I could never forgive her for how bad she has been, so instead she has been acting out just to show she is bad. She wanted to leave home because she was mad at herself. In essence, she wanted to run away from her problems. I know that one all to well.

Her words were honest and real. She already felt bad, so why be good?

What a profound way to look at yourself. I thought more about what she said as I myself tried to sleep that night. I realized that we all do this. We feel we are marked with sin and instead of wiping it off, we sometimes embrace it and call it who we are. It can be difficult for us to imagine ourselves clean and free from the ties that are binding us to sin.

We must remember that Jesus died for our sins; and He never will forsake us. Just as I love my daughter despite all of her misbehaving, Jesus unconditionally loves all of us.

We all are sinners; and no sin is greater than the other. If you are feeling bad about your actions, it’s easy to just give up, believing that it’s hopeless.

I’ve explained to my daughter that love and redemption are unconditional with Jesus. As her mother, I will never leave her and nor would her father.

This is a lesson for my daughter, but also for me and for you. Each day, each moment is new with God. Rather than embracing our mistakes, we need to embrace our futures.