Do you carry your shield of faith?

What do you think about someone who says about themselves:

"I'm doing everything wrong. I'm a disappointment to everyone. Especially to God. As soon as He forgives me, I sin again. I'm always searching for love, clinging to the wrong men... Last night, I got drunk for no reason and then made myself throw up after the party because I ate too much. I'm a wreck. Does anyone even need me?"

Do you believe that God can still have a plan for such a person? That their life can change so much that they become an example for others? Well, let's be honest... that would be a long and difficult journey.

That person was me! These lines you just read are excerpts from my diary. I couldn't believe my eyes when I recently discovered this. Because I had forgotten what the Déborah back then was like.

And if I am no longer the person I was before, it's only because the One who always was, still is, just as He was back then.

"Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:18-19 NIV)

Do you know what's written between the many—not just pages, but books—where I write about my many failures? The following: "Yet, I experience God's incredible grace. It makes no sense. And that makes me believe that God must still have a plan for me. Yes, I want to write a book someday to help people become free."

When the Bible says, "Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16 NIV), it means exactly that:

God's grace stands above your failures!

The past could still shout at me, "Do you even know who you are?" But I defend myself with the shield of faith.

Your shield of faith defends the truth: You are no longer defined by your past!

You are a miracle!

Déborah