Without confidence in the stubborn love of the Father and the over-ample sacrifice of Jesus I’d sink in the quicksand of my self-reproach. He sees my heart of repentance, hears the sincerity of my confession, takes a good long gaze into the eyes of his Son at his right hand, and assures me that the entire record of my failures is deleted and replaced by the record of Jesus.
When the snake comes to accuse me of previously confessed failures, I tell him to talk to Jesus about it and to slither back into the hole from which he came.
The extent to which I’m able to forgive others is the extent to which I’m able to take it for myself – and vise versa. Giving and receiving forgiveness are twin qualities. In order to “adopt” the one I have to take the other.
– Originally published in The Other End of the Dark: A Memoir About Divorce, Cancer, and Things God Does Anyway (the profits of which go to Freedom House).
barney wiget 
Thanks Barney,
For reminding me that asking for forgiveness is a daily requirement and that it is a two way process, as we forgive others Jesus helps us to forgive ourselves. What a special gift He gave us to able to unburden us from all that we load onto ourselves ,if we can remember to leave it all at His feet and not bring it back onto us again, that is the difficult part of His gift to us for me .
Thank you, Barney, for reminding me about Jesus’ gift for us all and that we need to claim it daily or be buried in our own self pity and loathing our trespasses. You are writing some powerful things these past weeks that have been a blessing for me .
God bless you .
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