A Gracious Heart

nocondemnation

Do you beat yourself up over past mistakes? Do you replay scenes in your mind that you wish you could do over again? Well, you’re not alone.

In Romans 8:1-2, we read, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

You know what? That’s a promise! It’s a promise tailor-made for those who can relate to me when I ask whether or not you beat yourself up about past mistakes. It’s not easy, but God gives us the strength we need.  I have had to learn to let go of of some things in my life. Sometimes, I disappoint people and I don’t know how to recover from it. Over the years, I’ve discovered I am a people pleaser.

Do you struggle with pleasing people? I’ve learned something through difficult circumstances. God wants me to please Him, and in pleasing Him, I will not always please other people. There are stories in the Bible from that are about men who chose to please God rather than men start to finish. He blessed those who chose to please Him.

Have you ever been used?  Have you ever felt unfairly treated?  Me too.  I get it.  But God says that His ways are better than our ways.  He asks us to put aside careless behavior. To set aside vengeance. (Romans 12:19) In short, God wants us to love one another.  To get along.

We can get along with each other by having a gracious heart. Sometimes that means we need to lay down a grudge and sometimes that means we need to forgive ourselves. If you’re struggling to forgive yourself, remember how you are to God. See yourself the way God sees you. God says He loves you so much, Busy Mom; He loves you so much that He laid down His life for you. It is not worth carrying a grudge around and it certainly not worth not forgiving yourself. If you can’t forgive yourself for your past sins, then satan will use that to hang you up for the rest of your life.

Is that what you want? Nooo! We want to live in victory! I recently watched my little ones playing in the garage and they were making a little road out of chalk.   They had their little spinning cars out there and I noticed when they fight they get it out of their system and then they’re done with it. But, when I make a mistake, I can replay that over and over again.

Stop the replay.

If you’ve done everything you know how to do to clean the slate, if you’ve gone back to that person you’ve offended, if you’ve tried to make it right, move on: let it go, find freedom in forgiveness.  His grace helps us stop the replay and live in freedom.

signature-heidi

Heidi St John Firmly Planted Family Devotional For All Ages

This entry was posted in Quiet Times Podcast on by .

About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

2 thoughts on “A Gracious Heart

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Gracious Heart

Heidi St. John encourages us to have a gracious heart.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by .

About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *