What I shared last night...

Boy, what a night. Talk about an awesome class. How cool it is to get some people in a room sharing how Jesus is impacting their lives. I was in heaven last evening...

Here is what I shared about my struggle to overcome past sins:

I have been there…haunted by my own past at times. I have been smothered by the regrets of my mistakes and wondering how I could ever run from it. I have felt like I was drowning in a sea of guilt. I hated it, but nothing I ever did could rescue me from it.

I’ve since become a Christian…I have come to understand that I can never earn my way to God’s love and favor. Every time I tried, I would fail and the past would hover over me again. Then someone shared with me that God doesn’t expect us to earn His love. He gives us His love in His son Jesus Christ. He gave Himself in death as a sacrifice for our wrongdoings and lives again to give us victory. I made the decision to ask Jesus to live His life in and through mine.

Ever since, I have found new hope and a future. I have discovered that I cannot forget or run from my past. But that doesn’t mean that God holds it over me. In fact, I have come to learn that God forgives and forgets my mistakes. He uses my memory of my past to help me to grow stronger and to become more like Him. I have found some verses in the Bible in Psalm 130 to be very helpful in showing me how to ask God to overcome my past and how to receive peace. I am very thankful that God sent Jesus Christ to die for me and to bring me forgiveness. All He has asked of me is to believe and receive. Since I have, I have found that I can take my burdens and struggles and place them on Him.