What in you needs to be forgiven?

What in you needs to be forgiven? Regret and shame about our mistakes can hold so much power over us and make us completely miserable— but only until we bring it into the light. Confessing or sharing about our mistakes kick starts the process of being made clean, or pure (1 John 1:9). When light shines on even our darkest spots, those spots aren’t dark anymore. Sharing with a trusted friend what in us needs to be forgiven can shake loose our mistakes’ hold on us, freeing us to turn away from the dark things we’ve been hiding. Seriously, there’s something about letting the thing we’ve been making ourselves sick over be finally spoken aloud that makes it a lot less scary. Once it’s out there, we can finally start dealing with it. And most of the time, all the dark scary scenarios we’ve been dreading just don’t come true. More often than not, we find an empathetic friend who listens, and reminds us of this: we’re already forgiven. We have a father who wants really good things for us. He’s not mad at us for messing up. He’s broken and sad because we’re fighting this battle against brokenness. Then, with that friend, we can seek Jesus, asking him for wisdom and strength to navigate a way forward.