After we make a stupid mistake, sometimes it feels like there's no coming back from it.

Our reputation is ruined. Our future is over.

Well, today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall recounts a story in the Old

Testament that may revolutionize how you view divine grace. Through Jonah's prayer, offered from

the belly of a great fish, Chuck reminds us that God's mercy is limitless. And if you're living

in the shadows of past mistakes, feeling disqualified from God's

love, this message will remind you that his compassions are new every morning, and second chances

are his specialty.

Dear Father, we turn to you with the realization that when you speak, the rest of us are wise to be silent.

When you warn the rest of us are wise to heed what you were warning.

When you call out, we are wise to pay attention.

Speak today in such a way that nothing interrupts your message. Though we are together only a brief period of time given this full

week that will unfold before us, may the words we hear become the most important words of this

week.

We give you our word, Father,

that we will hear what you say,

and as the week unfolds, it will prove

whether or not we take them seriously.

Thank you especially for those who have been courageous to come,

though they may feel uneasy in a context such as this, though some may come out of shame,

disappointment in themselves.

May they be reminded that you have a wonderful way of overcoming shame and replacing it with forgiveness

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