One Word

I've been inspired by a fellow blog friend to take part in the "one word" exercise. I am to choose one word that I want to focus on for the year and learn as much as I can about it. After much thought and prayer, the word that keeps coming to me is "Mercy". My life for the past year and a half has been an uphill battle and I've gone down paths that I shouldn't have from time to time. When I went to church last Sunday, I truly felt the mercy of the Lord fall on me like a thick blanket. He wrapped it around my shoulders just as the father wrapped his cloak around the shoulders of his prodigal son. As I stood there and felt the weight of His mercy on me, I was overwhelmed at how amazing my God is. Even after all I've done, having known better, He was still there to receive me with open arms. All I had to do was open my ears to finally listen to what He had to say to me.....and He was there to speak. Did He yell at me? Did He get angry with me. No.....He showed me MERCY!

I looked up the definition of mercy online and this is what I found:

Mercy - Compassion or forbearance shown, especially to an offender or to one subject to

one's power; lenient or compassionate treatment; a blessing that is an act of divine

favor or compassion; compassionate treatment of those in distress.

So many rich words in that definition that spoke to my heart about the mercy of our Father. Even though I am "subject to His power", He makes the choice to show me compassion, favor, and forbearance. He blesses me with His love to show me how much He treasures me, rather than heaping on more guilt for the things I've done wrong. What I want to know is, how can you not run to a Father that is like that?!! What keeps you from Him? Is it fear of the Truth? Is it shame? Guilt? Guess what? None of that matters to Him. He longs so much to have you in His arms, in His presence, that He shoves aside all the junk and choses mercy in its place. What a wonderful God we serve!

My goal for the year is to find as many verses as I can about God's mercy and share them with you on here. For now, I started with music as it is such a passion for me. I hunted through songs that had to do with mercy and added a few to my playlist. The first one that hit me the most was "Mercy Said No" by Greg Long. Take a minute and listen to it. Hopefully it will speak to you as it did me. Rest in His mercy, sweet one. He longs for you to receive it.