“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
⁶ The Lord will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord your Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:4-8)

There is such compassion in the heart of God toward His children.  It isn’t God’s desire to see you in pain or to see you experiencing reproach.  His heart is always to bless and to love, and yet His children don’t often understand or see this.

When we come to Christ our sinful past can have a way of bringing shame upon our lives, but in Christ that shame is taken away. Through His life and his sacrifice on the cross, He removes the shame we came under and we become partakers of a new experience and new life.

Old things pass away and all things become new.  Our sin- stained life no longer exists and we become the righteousness of God in Christ.

In my early life as a Christian I experienced much remorse and shame as I looked back over my life.  I could see all the valleys that I walked into and the mire and the stink seemed to remain with me.

But when I read scriptures like this in Isaiah I was comforted.  I began to learn that God was not ashamed of me.  I understood that my past was in the past and that God no longer considered it.

Every time the enemy would try to remind me of my past Holy Spirit was close by my side reminding me of how much the Father loved me and accepted me the way I was.

Even in my dreams reminders of His love and acceptance seemed to flow.  He said that I was a Son of God, a Prince and a Priest of the Most High God.  He showed up in my dreams as a father and loved me just like I was.  His heart was so pure toward me that I couldn’t help begin to love myself because He first loved me.

It is true that in my darkest days I didn’t hear the voice of the Lord.  Isaiah says that for a time He abandoned me.  He couldn’t bless the sin-stained person that I wanted to be.

Only by coming into agreement with His voice and His commands for my life could I remain in the sound of His voice, and being in the sound of His voice is the only safe refuge in this world.

He brought me back to Himself and I have been safe ever since.

I pray for you today.  I know that life has a way of bringing you down.  I know that you have concerns for family members, but I also know the hand of my God is strong toward those who believe.  Just as He touched my life He is going to touch yours and the lives of those you love.