You are forgiven.

Yesterday our sermon at church was about forgiveness.

If you are in Him, you will never be more forgiven than you are right now. How incredible is that? I find it utterly amazing that our God is so great, not just now, but always. Even before we came to existence we existed in Him. He knew we were coming, He knew we would sin, He gave his all for us. His blood shed on the cross gives us unending mercy and covers us in grace. Amazing grace. To know that He understands that I am not perfect, that I fail and will often, and that He has already forgiven me for that failure.....breathtaking.

While I was fully enthralled in the sermon, I couldn't help but think about the forgiveness of people in our lives. We are human, we fail. And I will be the first to admit that I down right suck at times. I have failed miserably at many things. The one thing I couldn't help think about the entire time was this: What if the people near and dear to our hearts truly forgave us when we failed them the way that Christ forgave us?

 I think it is easy for us to forgive someone who has failed us, but why is the starting over and the moving on so hard? And in the grand scheme of things, we are suppose to love as Christ loves us. Forgiving of our sins, and failures, loving unconditionally, never turning His back, and being there when we need him, even if it takes a while for us to come to Him. He doesn't judge us, He doesn't resent us, He doesn't leave us.

I am guilty of holding a grudge or walking away from people when I should be running toward them. Instead of walking away I wish I would have given them the love that Christ gave me. I find myself mesmerized by the love of some of my friends. I have a handful of girls, and by handful I mean 4, literally, that I know I can pick up the phone any time day or night and they will talk to me. It doesn't matter what is going on in my life, in their life or how long it has been since I have talked to them. They are there. I know, I have failed them. I have not been the best friend that I can be and at times they have given me far more than I have deserved. Their unconditional love and friendship means the world to me and they know that.

It warms my heart to know that I can live roughly 6 hours away from three of them and only about 20 minutes from the other and no matter how often I see either of them, I know they are there. Two of them came into my life very early in my college career and the other two came into my life in the last 3 years. We can talk every day about anything and everything, or we can talk once every 6 months and I know at the end of the day they are some of the sweetest, kindest, bestest, friends that I have. They have never judged me, left me, or walked away when I needed them the most. They often came running full force, never allowing me to forget them. And when I didn't respond to their steadfast approach, they knew, they understood, they were still there, even if it took months and even a few years later. And, still they were forgiven of my faults, of my running away from them when they were simply trying to be there for me when I needed them. I am so very grateful they never gave up, they never held a grudge, they still love unconditionally, just as Christ loves us all.  For these sweet friends I am eternally grateful.

Another thought that ran through my head the entire day, what if we were forgiving to those in our lives like our children are forgiving of us? Or like our parents were to us when we were children? As parents we often do things that seem like epic failures and pure disappointments to our children, but they are always unconditionally loving and forgiving. As children we often disappointed our parents by things we got into, but at the end of the day we were still their children and they love us and forgive us unconditionally.

Unconditional love and forgiveness.

I have prayed about this the last two nights and know that I am asking God to walk with me as I attempt to run full force toward the ones I love when they need it most, and forgive those that have failed me as He has forgiven me....

My heart is full knowing that I serve a God that understands that I will fail, but he is there to catch me when I do and that I have family and friends that give unconditional love and forgiveness even when I don't deserve their grace.