East to West

I used to know this girl in the photo.  I look at this picture and I see a ghost of a girl who once was not afraid to share or speak her mind, at least to others, maybe not so much to her mother out of respect and fear of being smacked into the next week.  I see a girl who liked to go off and think and dwell on thoughts of God and try to find some meaning to her life.  Of knowing who she was and not afraid to let others know she didn’t bend to their ways.  Little did this girl know in the picture that there would come a day she would bend, fold and go off a path she swore she never would. 

As I mentioned, yesterday, about being on zigzag paths and not always able to walk a clear and straight line….there came a time this girl listened to the voices that called and begged her to just come dance to a tune she had never heard or been a part of before.  All the while, deep in her heart of hearts, she still clung to what she knew was true and although she wishes she could remove that hike she took on a bad path, she can’t change it or remove it.  God did though and never let me go and this old gal is thankful when I look back and where I could have ended up.  No way did I deserve Him to save me or forgive me, but He did.

Funny how we all can beat ourselves up at times over things done in the past.  We can’t help but see a picture of ourselves and floods of memories are pulled off the back burner of our minds and some tend to make us feel good and others stir up thoughts we wish we could remove and never taste again.  I’m so thankful that God removes our sins as far as the east is to the west when we come to Him and confess them.   I might not be able to remove the thoughts when they pop in my head but God says He will forgive and forget.  Someone might ask, “How far is east from the west?”  And I like the answer I read one time: “From one nail scarred hand to the other, outstretched.”  When Christ died on the cross, He removed the bad path that girl in the photo once took and I thank Him and I’m so grateful He did.

^“He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”  (Psalm 103:10-12 NLT)