Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

We've all known them.  People who hold grudges.  There is something small about them, almost like a caricature.  Not fully human.  Not able to be free within themselves. Holding on to unforgiveness shrinks us.  Where we could be stronger, taller, more fully fleshed out if we were forgiving instead, we remain small, lost, tied up inside by our unwillingness to let go, to release the other from our "right-ness."   Are we "right" when we assess someone's wrongdoing toward us?  We may be correct in our assessment of the situation, but that doesn't make us right.   It is so harmful to our souls, psyches, even our physical bodies, when we hold on to bitter feelings inside toward others.  So why do we do it?  It feels horrible!  Why do we torture ourselves so? We think that it somehow "gets back" at our wrongdoer, but we couldn't be further from the truth.  It harms us.  The very thing that's supposed to make us "feel better" ends up

  Dear Lord, I pray that whomever listens to this song would come to know and believe that You love them.  Always and forever, truly and deeply.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

I don't know about you, but to say that the Lord has given me a million chances is an understatement, To sin means to miss the mark (the bullseye of the target). To say I have missed the mark a million times in my life - because this includes my thought life, too - may sound exorbitant, but trust me, I am low-balling it! So when I hear the phrase, "He is the God of second chances," I don't understand it.  Why?  Because from personal experience, I know that I know that I know that if God had stopped at my "second chance," I would be toast forevermore! No.  He has given me, and keeps giving me, chance after chance after chance. Let me explain further. How many days have you lived?  Now even if you were to sin only once a day (ha!), how many days is that so far?  It would be at least in the thousands.  But because we know that we all sin more than once a day(!). that's why I put the "second chance" deal into the millions. I rely on God's mercy