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Many times, as Christians when we have walked away from God during a season, or decided to go our own way, it takes time to find our way back. Maybe it’s because it’s hard for us to believe that God will still accept us and love us. We begin believing the lies that we are not good enough, not worth loving anymore, that God is too far gone from us, that we are the worst of the worst. Well, that’s just not true. Any type of thought that leaves us feeling condemned, full of shame, and unworthy is NOT from God. When we keep feeding those lies, our vision of God becomes clouded and it becomes hard for us to have hope and feel God's love and mercy towards us. 

Sometimes God allows us to get to our lowest. For example, the prodigal son was left with absolutely nothing. The only thing he had left was going back home. This is similar to us, many times in our lives we get to such a low place that all we have left to do is look up.

This small picture from the story of the prodigal son is such a beautiful picture of God's grace. His grace is more than just “I forgive you”. It’s a picture of His unconditional love for us. In verse 20, we see that the son got up, and started slowly making his way back home, and the second his father saw him, he started running towards him.

All it takes is one step. There is nothing we could do that would keep God from loving us. Jesus already paid the price for every single sin we would commit. You don’t need to have your life back together and fix all the mistakes you made. All God wants is your repentant heart. You simply need one step. With that one step heaven rejoices, the family of God celebrates. The community of believers come around you and encourage you and hold you accountable. This is what God's grace looks like. 

Where are you today? What needs to be your first step? Don’t be afraid, Jesus is ready to start running.