LOOSE LEAF NOTEBOOK~Our Status

God carried me through 2020 and has carried me through almost 2021.  We have walked through those times while God has provided and promised his presence.  It's been longer, harder, and painful times than expected.

Lite at the end of the Tunnel

The path God has chosen for me may not be your path. Yet to my shame I still find something to complain about.  Sometimes, I find myself as impatient as the Israelites did in Numbers 21:4-5.  

We just want 2021 to end but that is how we felt about 2020 to end not knowing what was ahead was even worse than we had envisioned.  The kind of life we so desperately wanted has not happened.  Like the Israelites, we long for the good things of 2018 or 2019.  After telling Moses, no, he could not go to that promised land, he told him he could take a peek from the mountain.

Oct. 30, 2021,

With the strands of worship & words still lingering in my ears, the words from Psalm 32 on the blessings of forgiveness resonate with that author and this author.

David shares his status before God as forgiven. He celebrates the joys, the peace, the relief of forgiveness.

He describes his experiences of how sin was "heavy upon him" with his strength and vitality nearly gone.

The aspects of forgiveness that hinder one from asking God's forgiveness, the erroneous thought that sin is so heinous it can't be forgiven or that of using the excuse to sin freely because if God forgives me when I sin, then why bother to stop sinning if all we need to do is ask for forgiveness each time.

Citing other verses:  Gal.5:13,  I John 1:9

 "SIN AFFECTS EVERYTHING":

Sin affects ALL aspects of life.

Conflict with God.

Lifestyle choices

Alienation from God

Alienation from others

Rebellion

SO WHAT DOES GOD DO WITH MY SINS?

32:1, Rom.4:7. He covers it

32:2 He does not charge me with iniquity.

Ps.103:12 He removes it from me.

Ps.51:2 He washes away my guilt and cleanses me.

He lifts it off my shoulders

He forgets about it.               wow!  WoW!

In the words of a testimony, I recently read:

   "I was reminded that my past makes my present all the more remarkable, my weaknesses reveal God’s abounding strength, and my unfaithfulness makes His faithfulness even more astonishing."