Mistakes Don't Matter

Here are some thoughts that have I have been having lately:

Life can get so messy, can't it?  Thank God our messes don't put Him off, He just stays with us and keeps working..

He is so good.  One thing He has been showing me lately is that "Mistakes don't matter" - that nothing I do can change the fact that His Spirit is in me working and loving me.  No mistake I make can ever drive Him out.  "He will be with you forever."  

That's such a comfort to someone who grew up in performance-based acceptance.  I need to hear that every day because sometimes if I fail, I get to thinking there's a barrier between us, when He says there isn't, ever.  

I think His grace overcomes the shame of our failures, and when He sees us He only sees beauty.  He sees no sin.  

Why do we sometimes stress out about our struggles?  We want to be better, I guess.  For Him and as a witness to Him.  But He is delighting in us every day, saying that those mistakes and struggles just don't change our relationship one little bit.  His is a perfect acceptance, not based on our behavior but on Christ's.  And His is a perfect love, not based on our "worthiness" but on His heart!

I want to rest in that unconditional love.  I want to admit I'll never be perfect and accept myself right now as a whole person and a loved person.  And be able to be honest about my mistakes and move on.

Maybe for the first time, it seems possible to be able to just live with joy in the skin I'm in, not wanting so much to change my quirkiness and be different, but just be me in Him.  And enjoy living in this place where mistakes don't matter.  

If mistakes don't matter in my relationship with Him, then I want to focus less on those mistakes and more on being loved by Jesus..living out of that place deep inside where my spirit is joined to His Spirit, where it is just Him and me, and everything is okay between us!  Actually, better than okay - it's great, it's perfect!