PASSAGE:
   John to the seven assemblies (churches) that are in Asia: May grace (God's unmerited favor) be granted to you and spiritual peace (the peace of Christ's kingdom) from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come, and from the seven Spirits [the sevenfold Holy Spirit] before His throne,
   And from Jesus Christ the faithful and trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead [first to be brought back to life] and the Prince (Ruler) of the kings of the earth. To Him Who ever loves us and has once [for all] loosed and freed us from our sins by His own blood,
   And formed us into a kingdom (a royal race), priests to His God and Father--to Him be the glory and the power and the majesty and the dominion throughout the ages and forever and ever. Amen (so be it).
   Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall gaze upon Him and beat their breasts and mourn and lament over Him. Even so [must it be]. Amen (so be it).
   I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord God, He Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty (the Ruler of all).
( Revelation 1:4-8 )

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   I'll probably never meet Kara, now four years old. But one day she made a beautiful observation that has helped me.
   "We had been standing on the hillside watching the airplane skywriting," her grandmother wrote me one day. "When the words began to disappear, she asked, 'Why, Grandma? Where do they go?'"
   "Then, as I groped for an answer, her little face brightened and she suddenly exclaimed, 'Maybe Jesus has an eraser!'"
   I smiled as I read, but my eyes filled and suddenly I wanted to hug that little girl. For that morning I had been grieving over past mistakes. A cruel thing I had said to my mother the day I left for college. And Dad...if only I'd invited him to that luncheon where I was to speak - he'd have been so proud. One tender buy painful memory releases others: the time I'd punished a child unfairly, humiliated my husband, let a friend down...
   No matter how much we mature as people, grow as Christians, try desperately to compensate, memories of our own failures rise up to haunt us, and sting - how they sting. For me, it's not the unkindnesses of others that hurt so much or last so long, it's the burden of my own. Yes, I ask God to forgive me, and try to believe that I am forgiven. But the memory won't go away. And if I can't forgive myself, how can God?
   Then a little girl, in her innocence and wisdom, makes me realize: Like that writing on the sky that simply disappears, Jesus has wiped away all things I so bitterly regret. Jesus does have an eraser.

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ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE READINGS:

   For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him.
   As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
( Psalm 103:11-12 )

   Who is a God like You, Who forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy and loving-kindness.
   He will again have compassion on us; He will subdue and tread underfoot our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
( Micah 7:18-19 )

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   I know that I have made many, many mistakes in my past that I would sooner forget, but they always seem to pop to mind on occasion. I believe that those reminders are the devil's way of messing with us and trying to get us to dwell on what God has already forgotten. The devil will use any and every trick in the book to pull us away from God. Cast down those negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. Let the past be the past and look toward the future.
                              Just a thought!
                              God bless!
                              Danielle ( nelliegirl100 )

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