Return

"Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!" ~ Hosea 14:1

One of the most beautiful things about God is that He is always calling His people to repentance, to turn away from their sins and return to Him. What I love is that God not only asks us to give up something (our sins), but He asks us to return to something--to Him! Letting go of our sins is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes the sins are so ingrown we aren't sure what parts are us and what parts are the sin. Sometimes we even feel like we are the sin.

But there is hope and good news because God is calling us to return to Him, to the only One who is able to extricate us from the mess we've made and rescue us from the sins that entangle us. How I pray that all across America, as people look helplessly around them, they will return to God.

I think with sorrow...

of the people on the West Coast, battling loss because of the wildfires...

of the people in the Gulf, dealing with flooding, no power, and often no homes...

of people in Iowa who are cleaning up from the derecho that blew through destroying houses and crops...

of the relatives and friends of the nearly 200,000 who have died from coronavirus...

of the small business owners who have poured their heart and soul into their store or restaurant, only to watch it fail because of the pandemic...

of the employees who were just laid off because there is no work left to do...

of the children and teens struggling with loneliness and fear and depression because of everything that is happening...

of moms like me who are just doing the best they can to help their children through this difficult time...

of the elderly trapped in nursing homes feeling alone and unloved...

of the COVID-19 patients who feel lonely and hopeless, wondering when they will ever return home...

To all of these God the Father holds out His loving arms and calls with the urgency of a parent whose beloved child has run away, "Return! Come back to Me and I will bring you hope. Yes, you have sinned, but your sin is never greater than My grace just as darkness is never greater than light.

"Return, America, come back to Me and find life and hope once again. All you need to do is return!"