Forgiveness.

It's crazy to me that as long as I ask for God's forgiveness, He's going to forgive me every time. AND, he doesn't keep a record of it! Can you imagine God having a list... "Well, here I am forgiving Brittany for fill in the blank for the 80th time." No... he doesn't keep record!

Forgiveness is something that I've been thinking about for a few weeks.

Everyone has a past. Everyone has baggage. Everyone has flaws, insecurities, issues, etc. The list goes on.

But the beauty of all of that is this... Jesus died for us on the cross to forgive us of all our sins, all our "stuff" (whatever that means for you.) Our "stuff" doesn't define us. We may not deserve grace but it is freely offered to us because of the price Jesus paid. He died for YOU because He loves you. You can't tell me that's not love.

So, if Christ did all of that for us. Paid our price, forgave and forgives us... then why can't we do that for one another? Too often I hear people say things such as, "well so and so did this," or saying something to reference someone's past and baggage. As I previously stated, everyone has a past and baggage. As long as they have taken that up with God and asked for forgiveness, then what right do we have to hold that over their head? We don't!

In Matthew 18, verses 21 and 22 it says this: "Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!"

Challenging? Yeah.

In 1 Corinthians 13 it talks about love and all that it is. One of the things is love doesn't hold record of wrongs. We are called to love people, love one another. This also means forgiving them and not holding record of wrong.

I for one don't feel like I deserve grace. I don't deserve a lot of things. However, because of Christ dying for us, we are offered so much. And I am forever grateful for that.

Friends, you are worth everything. You have a bright future. The road to it may be rough, but it will be worth it. Because of what Christ did on the cross you deserve grace, to be believed in, to be loved, forgiveness, and so much more. Christ offers you these things because He loves you.

And that's all... :)