Welcome to today's encouragement from our daily bread.

My name is Sochiel Dixon.

Today I'm sharing a special part of my personal testimony in God's great love.

When a friend asked me to speak with teenage girls at a workshop promoting purity, I declined.

As a teenage runaway, I struggled and had decades of scars caused by my immorality.

After getting married and losing our first child to a miscarriage, I thought God was punishing me for my past sins. When I finally surrendered my life to Christ

at the age of 30, I confessed my sins and repented repeatedly. Still, guilt and shame consume me.

How could I share about God's grace when I couldn't even bring myself to fully

receive the gift of his great love for me? Thankfully, over time, God has abolished the lies that

chained me to who I was before I confessed my sins. By his grace, I finally received the forgiveness.

God had been offering me all along.

God understands our laments over our afflictions and the consequences of our past sins.

However, he empowers his people to overcome despair, turn from our sins, and arise with hope

in his great love, compassion, and faithfulness. Scripture says that God himself is our portion,

our hope and salvation, and we can learn to trust His goodness.

Our compassionate Father helps us believe His promises.

When we receive the fullness of His great love for us, we can spread the good news about His grace.

Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is from Lamentations chapter 3,

verses 19 to 26.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.

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