God-- Is A God Of Second Chances

Yesterday I was reading in Lamentations. ".....Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning-great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself , "the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him-it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord... For men are not cast off by the Lord forever-though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love...."   Lamentations 3:22-26, 31-32

Read that again. And then again. Let it sink in.

How many times do I make mistakes? How often do I wish I could have a "do-over"? Like the times that  I've yelled at my kids because they had spilled something on the counter that I just cleaned 5 minutes ago...and the spill stays there. Shoes that track stuff through the house. Or maybe being beyond irritated because the video game noise is enough to make my ears bleed. Or how many times do I have to tell someone to brush his/her teeth or clean rooms before it actually gets done?! So often instead of counting my blessings I'm too busy counting the mistakes. The mistakes the kids make are easy to see....and they make them often. I'm sorry to say that there are times when my heart does not feel very forgiving.

I was convicted by the scripture that I read yesterday morning. I make mistakes every day of my life....and they are a lot bigger then a spill on the counter or teeth brushing. Mistakes I want to hide. Mistakes that might embarrass me. Mistakes that hurt. Yet, my Heavenly Father CHOOSES to be merciful to me each morning. Even though I don't deserve it.  He is the God that allows "do-overs". His compassion to me is never ending. He looks at me with all my imperfections and loves me. He forgives me and I start over.

If my Father forgives me....how much more should I forgive others? Forgiveness is not always warranted, sometimes the offender doesn't even ask for forgiveness, but that is the wonder of it all...forgiveness truly is a gift-. Thank you, God!