How to Accept God’s Gift Called Mercy

Have you ever felt defeated after trying your best and then falling short? Do you find it hard to accept God’s forgiveness when you fail? Mercy is a beautiful gift God freely offers us, but often, we struggle to receive it.

It was unexpected and unplanned. A note slipped free from between the pages of my Bible and landed quietly in my hand.

I didn’t remember reading the verse, much less writing it down. It was awe-inspiring to see it on a morning when I needed it most—a visible, tangible reminder that our heavenly Father is always loving, caring, and pursuing us.

Even more remarkable was that God’s grace and intentionality found me on a morning when I felt so unworthy of it all.

A day of complete failure smoldered like ashes behind me, and all I wanted to do was sit in them and cry. The enemy no doubt thought he had won because I felt too weary to move. But then God interjected His words of Proverbs 4:25-26 into the state of my discouragement, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then your ways will be sure.”

The powerful words of this verse poured over my heart like healing oil. They redirected my gaze from staring at my shortcomings and failed intentions from the day before to looking again longingly upon the breathtaking view called mercy. These words raised me to my feet on a morning when I only wanted to stay down and wallow in my defeat.

The hopelessness that the enemy was quick to drape over my heart to render me unmovable was redirected by the gentle beckoning from the Holy Spirit. God had forgiven me for my misspoken words. It was now time to forgive myself, rise up, and move forward.

It amazes me how quickly God can change the view of our landscape from the darkness of hopelessness to the beautiful light of His hope when we are willing to redirect our gaze. Take my eyes off our problems to look instead upon Jesus and the finished work of the Cross.

We can easily fall prey to the enemy’s trap of condemnation. He desires to entangle us in our frailties and temporary setbacks, paralyzing us from confidently moving forward. He wants to divert our gaze from looking toward our future with hope and expectation, replacing it with snapshots of defeat and unworthiness.

The enemy desires to keep us overwhelmed by the reality of the weakness of our flesh so we fail to fully see our potential to God’s glorious plans – plans to transform us through His strength and power to be more like Jesus.

We can become consumed by what we cannot do on our own. If we allow the enemy to persuade us to settle down in what we feel we can’t do, we will never fully embrace all the things we can do through God’s strength. We will sacrifice all the things we could have accomplished through Christ on our altars called guilt and regret.

I allowed the healing power of God’s word to seep down into the depths of my heart. It would prove to be the gentle nudge I needed to step out again into the unknowns of another day, healed and refueled to try again.

If you struggle with letting go of past mistakes, allow God to redirect your gaze to behold Jesus and accept His gracious gifts called mercy and forgiveness.  Embrace His grace, then step out of your past mistakes and into God’s glorious plans for You.  How wonderful they are!