The Perfect Gift...

I love this time of year. I love it for the warm fires, the beautiful white lights, the joy on children's faces, but also for so much more.

It is the time of year when, depending on how your family does their gift giving celebration, you are buying one special gift for that person whose name you have drawn, or you are buying presents for everyone in your family. Giving is so much fun. To think about what that person would want or need and be able to bring some happiness to them when they open it, is such a blessing. If you are anything like me, you want to make whatever you get them "the perfect gift". The one thing that will change their entire year next year because they have it. The one thing that their little heart desires.

It makes me think of a gift I have received. My perfect gift.

I didn't have to pull off wrapping paper to open this one. And it didn't have a beautiful bow attached. In fact, I couldn't physically hold this gift at all. But it was by far the greatest gift I have ever received. And it didn't just change my next year, or the year after that, ...but my life.

And the giver? Well, He knew exactly when I needed it.

That gift was Mercy and Forgiveness.

Now it's true, nobody had to stand in line at 3am on Black Friday to pick it out for me. Or order it on EBay to make sure it got delivered on time. And it wasn't hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Instead, a much higher price was paid.

When I think about the gift of a second chance, all other gifts seem so insignificant.

Because of Jesus Christ, my King, my sins have been washed away. And can you imagine the happiness of the Giver when we finally receive that gift? It is something that healed me. All of my wounds of brokenness, sadness, loneliness, selfishness, pride, anger, and malice. Everything I held inside and thought that nobody could see. All of it gone. Not because I became perfect by receiving this gift, but because it made my life so filled with healing and peace that I want to live in order to bring Glory to the Giver.

And if I could describe to you how I felt on that day, almost seven years ago .... the words to this song would be as close as I could come....

"I used to wish that I could rewrite history
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased
Then I could just pretend
I never knew the me back then

I used to pray that You would take this shame away
Hide all the evidence of who I've been
But it's the memory of
The place You brought me from
That keeps me on my knees
And even though I'm free...

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You areI am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar

I have not lived a life that boasts of anything
I don't take pride in what I bring
But I'll build an altar with
The rubble that You've found me in
And every stone will sing
Of what You can redeem

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar

Don't let me forget
Everything You've done for me
Don't let me forget
The beauty in the suffering

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar"

Thank You will never be enough.