F*-Up

I don't know if you are familiar with the story behind To Write Love On Her Arms.  Some folks wanted to help a drug addict, Renee, regain her life.  When she finally responded to their pursuit of her, she had cut the words "F* Up" on her arms with a razor blade.  TWLOHA's mission is to bring hope to the hopeless.  Their very name is the spirit of their mission, to replace "F* Up" with "love".
We can all identify with Renee.  There are times in our life when all we can see is an unending string of mistakes, failures and brokenness.  They can seem to define us as if our failures are all we are or all we can be.
In our church, we are reading through the Bible in a year.  Unfortunately, I'm not real good at following a plan, so, I found myself reading straight through Genesis in one sitting (or at least Genesis chapter 12 to 39).  That encompasses the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the fathers of God's covenant people.  Men that God loved, blessed and promised to make into a nation of millions of people.  Men through whom all the world would be blessed.  But then, you look at their lives ...
These guys messed up about as often as they got it right.  Sometimes even messing up the same thing over and over.  Yet they were still loved, deeply loved, by the God of all creation.  Read their stories.  Be inspired by the fact that you can be messed up and not be "a mess up".  Our failures do not define us!
God is a God of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 129th chances.  Let Him heal you and set you on a new path.  "After all, tomorrow is another day."

10th Avenue North, "You Are More"