Second Chances:
After the last 3 blogs you might be thinking OK I have messed up so does that mean it’s over? Of course not and I tried to explain in each one that we all can have second chances especially through Jesus Christ.
You may be thinking but you don’t know what I have done in my past. But that doesn’t matter as I know God knows and he has forgiven you if you have asked him back into your heart. Your past can’t be much worse than mine.
I won’t get into great details of my past right now but I will hit some points from it. The marriage I am on is not my first. It is my second. I was married back when I was 25 years old for 3 years. I did everything to mess that up. I destroyed it because of my addictions.
After that marriage was over I truly thought I didn’t deserve a second chance. I thought it was over for me in the marriage department. I mean there is no way that God could ever forgive me. Plus after it was over I thought to myself I am FREE so I was happy.
It only took a few months for me to realize that not only was I not free because of the bondage to my past I was still in but I wanted someone to wake up next to. I started dating and I was always honest with women upfront about my past. Some thought I was too honest and some liked it that I was upfront about everything.
When I met Sandy, even though in my heart I was ready, emotionally & spiritually I wasn’t because I was still hanging on to all of the baggage of my past. If you would have asked me what I wanted from my new marriage, I would have told you to not repeat my past.
6 months after we married, my mom passed away and I didn’t know how to handle it. I handled it poorly. I went right back to all my addictions. I found myself almost repeating my past again. It wasn’t until 4 years later on December 26th, 2007 when I finally handed my addictions completely over to Christ that I started seeing a change.
At first it was hard because then anger started coming out. Since I didn’t have my addictions to cover my anger up, I started seeing how angry I was. There were things that happened back in my teen years that kept anger inside of me. I finally had to deal with it and hand that over to God. It wasn’t until then when I could start to heal.
So you can say with everything that has happened to me and everything that I have done wrong, God not only Blessed me with such an awesome wife but he now has Blessed me with a great Lil Boy, Lil Chris. Sandy and I are stronger than ever.
I talk a lot about marriage because I realize that is where I have grown the most. I do not want to see others repeat where I have been. No one needs to go that route. It isn’t a fun route and you will just stay in misery.
So if God can give me a second chance at life then he can give you one too. We all need second chances especially since we aren’t perfect. Until we are perfect which will never happen, God will always give us those second chances.
I heard someone say one time that it isn’t how you start in life but how you finish. Thank God that is true because I would have been destroyed with everything from my past. One day I will write everything I went through in my past but for now this will have to do.
I hear of other religions that say that you go to Heaven if you do more good than bad. I don’t believe that because giving your life to Christ is what qualifies us to go to Heaven but if the other religions that said that would have been true then there is no way I would go to Heaven. There is no way I have enough time to do more good than I have done bad.
Can you imagine if God was really like that? Not many of us would be in heaven. Imagine you just realize there is a God and all your life you behaved badly then you changed but died a month later. That would mean, you wouldn’t make it to Heaven. Thank God we have a God who believes in second chances through Jesus Christ. If we didn’t Lord knows where we would all be.
So what are we supposed to do now? Now is the time to turn your life either to God or back to God. Now is the time to go on and finish strong. It doesn’t matter where you are God is ready to give you a second chance. Maybe you are in prison, God is still waiting to give you a second chance. Maybe you were an abuser, God is still ready to give you a second chance.
It makes no difference what you have done, God is ready right now to give you a second chance on life. Does this mean that your second chance will be to live the exact same life you did before? Maybe but maybe not because you may have done things that by law won’t allow you to live the same life but that doesn’t mean that you can’t live for God in your new direction. God is ready and able to change your life so that you can live for him.
The big question is “Are you ready for your second chance?” Are you ready to take your life to the next level? Are you ready to go from the man or woman you are today to where God wants to lead you? Only through second chances is this possible.
Ask God to heal your hear from your past. Ask God to give you a second chance to live your life for him. Ask him to come back into your life so that you can have direction. Ask him to give you the courage to follow his vision for your life no matter where it may lead. Tell him that you are excited about your second chance!
Be Inspired or Be Left Behind!
Chris Benton