little happy::second and third and fourth and...

grateful for second and third and fourth and...you get the idea...chances...that God is a restorer...that God makes promises to turn things around in our lives...even the things we've screwed up...he doesn't say, "well, you got yourself into this mess, go ahead and get yourself out."...but his mercies are new every morning...it says he remembers our sins no more...as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us...that he has not dealt with us according to our sins or rewarded us according to our iniquities, but he pities us like a father pities his children...that he remembers we are just dust...

i have messed up so many things in my life...even willfully chosen wrong...i can list my reasons, but none of them are good enough to excuse the things i've done or thought or said or believed...

but God...in his mercy looks at me as perfected...he forgives...he cleanses and he lets me start over...

tears pour down my cheeks as i type this...because i need so many do-overs in my life...so many things i've messed up...things that seem irreparable...but nothing is impossible with God...

some verses::

Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD’s Favor 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a] 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. 5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. 6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.


Joel 2:25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]— my great army that I sent among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.