Chapter One

During our meeting we talked about how in our brains we recognize the power of God, but have difficulty feeling in our hearts that He truly forgives us. I know this to be true: the Bible is accurate and it time and time again tells us of the mercy and grace that is ours just for the asking and that God keeps His promises.
There may be storms in or lives and I can offer up four reasons why God may allow storms in our lives: 1: sin or disobedience; 2: character building or teaching; 3: He may be trying to redirect us; 4: for His glory. If we can recognize these reasons as God's way of assuring complete dependence on Him as our true Father who loves us, we will experience His peace which is like no other. One of the questions asks us to think of times in our lives where God was active, I can say for myself, the past year He has been with me every step of the way even the times I was angry with Him. He has helped me through drug addiction and recovered memories of horrendous child abuse. Without Him, I would still be in a pit of profound depression. Can you think of times where God was active throughout your life even before you were truly aware of Him? He's an amazing God who wants us to let go of the yoke of guilt and shame from our abortion. I know in my heart that as long as we hold onto all the negative emotions, that Satan is doing a dance of joy knowing that he is keeping us from God and salvation. We need to believe with our hearts that God has magnificent plans for us and they don't include self-destructive emotions.
Please think of what you have gained from working through Chapter 1 and what steps you can take throughout the week to put the knowledge of our loving God into practice. I have two scriptures for you to think on: Psalm 34 particularly, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit". Also 1 Timothy 1:12-14: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus". Paul was ignorant and was unbelieving, but God was merciful and sent the Lord to Damascus and Paul believed. Maybe, like me, you grew up believing, but felt already unworthy and doomed to hell. Maybe you just partially believed, but were ignorant to who Jesus was. Maybe, you believed but felt there were no alternatives for you. Or maybe your just like Paul. The bottom line, though is - it doesn't matter. The moment you chose to believe and wanted a relationship with Christ, God bestowed mercy and His grace flowed. It just happened. The goodness of the Lord is amazing.