As I look back at my past, I'm ashamed at how many times I've fallen. "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18). I'm overwhelmed with guilt. I blame myself for trying to do life on my own. I blame myself for not getting help, when I had too much on my plate. I blame myself for turning to alcohol to ease the stress, pain, & depression. This list goes on. But the truth of the matter, I am not defined by these mistakes and choices. John Paul II said, “We are not made from the sum of our weakness…we are the sum of the Father’s love for us. " Though I may have to pay consequences, I am "more than the sum of past mistakes."
He welcomed back this prodigal with love. It’s hard to imagine that no matter what I’ve done, He will never love me any less. "I've been remade." There is hope, because Jesus Christ has paid my price. Today I am free. I am not struggling to be free, I am free. With this freedom, I’m still free to struggle.
- Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. “Happy are the pure in heart.”(Matthew 5:8)
- Step 4: I made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." (Lamentations 3:40)
You are More (Tenth Avenue North)