Blessings,

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12 (NIV)

Yesterday morning, I was driving in heavy traffic to a hair appointment. There was a gentleman behind me who seemed to be in a very big hurry, and traffic was not moving quickly enough for him. Since we were on a two-lane road, there was no where for me to go to get out of his way and no longer be in front of him, which I was wishing that I was not.

His driving was erratic, and every time the traffic would come to a quick slow-down or stop, I feared he was going to rear-end me. I kept glancing in my rear view mirror anxiously watching him and wishing that he would not follow me quite so closely. I prayed, “Lord, please don’t let that man hit me in the rear end.” And then, ever so gently, the Lord whispered to my heart, “My child, you focus on what is in front of you. I will take care of what is behind.”

By that time, we had reached four-lane traffic, and the man shortly moved out into another lane and away from my car. I then began to reflect on what God had just said to me, and I realized how that statement was the essence of what He does for us.

We can not change the past. Whatever happened or did not happen, we can not go back. However, we can LOOK back. But doing so can cause us to continue to stumble, for if we are looking behind, we can not see what is ahead.

The enemy would like for us to focus on our past. It is one way he tries to shift our focus off of God and the future He has planned for us.

But that is not what God wants for us. He does not focus on our past. When we ask for forgiveness of our sins and ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, the slate is wiped clean. And even as we walk with Jesus and sin, we have but to ask and all is forgiven again. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

God also tells us in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My Own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

If the God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, forgets our sins, then we need waste no more energy focusing on them ourselves.

Let us focus on what is in front of us. God will take care of what is behind.

Sweet Blessings,

Yesterday, I confessed that I do not like to wash off makeup and cleanse my face. Still do not know why that is, but it is a fact. I also talked about how we wear makeup to look and feel more beautiful, but if left on our faces while sleeping, makeup actually causes damage to our skin.

As I pondered this weird dislike I have for cleansing my face, God began to draw a parallel for me between external and internal cleansing.

We are all born as sinners. There is no getting around that. It is only through asking Jesus to come and live in our hearts and forgive us and cleanse us of our sins that we are made clean.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

White as snow. Pure. Beautiful. I love this picture. That God sees me this way because the shed blood of His Precious Son made a way for me to be reconciled to Him in spite of my sin.

Still, even as one who has seen my need for a Savior and asked Him to be the Lord of my life, I sin. I always will. And left unchecked, my heart will become black and ugly the more mired in my sin I become. Dirty. Unclean. In need of cleansing. Causing damage to my heart and my relationship with God.

But, even then, forgiveness is mine for the asking, and I am washed clean once again.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Sweet Blessings,