By Sandra Sheridan

 Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake. And I will not remember your sins.”

The month of June ushers in warm weather that truly lifts a person’s spirits. But it also creates a lot of yard work. The sun and rain nourish the ground causing all sorts of vegetation to bloom. Grass grows, flowers blossom, garden seeds sprout and weeds freak out – they take off like prisoners set free from an earthy jail cell. No matter how hard you try to get rid of them they keep showing up. They remind me of my own recurring need for God’s forgiveness.

Last week I had a “freak out” moment. For days I had been pushing through all my typical commitments while also juggling a number of unusually challenging situations. While each particular outlier wasn’t necessarily huge, the culmination of them all stressed me out. The weight of internal pressures grew stronger as I kept rolling on, until one day I lost my cool.

Unfortunately, Dad received the brunt of my freak out, and I had to apologize again for handling my stress badly. It seems that so often I respond the wrong way in situations like this. Just like the weeds, my sinful tendencies keep showing up at the worst times. But this is why I am so thankful for forgiveness.

God knows about our sinful propensities that regularly pop up, and He loves us anyway. He promises that He will pull up the weeds in our lives for His own sake. He will cast them away and remember them no more.

There will always be yard work to do in the month of June. And there will always be weeds regularly rearing their ugly heads. But praise the Lord there is forgiveness. This refreshing truth truly lifts the spirit, especially after a freak out moment.