Chapter 14: The short way home – running towards God

Caroline discovered how when she ran to God to ask for his forgiveness and help, he changed everything.

When I was at Uni I got into a wrong and difficult relationship. I felt terrible because I had drifted away from God (again). I so wanted to come back to my loving heavenly Father but felt I had gone too far away this time and I hadn’t a clue how to get out of the toxic relationship. At a very low moment and in desperation I called out to God to help me. I told Him I was so sorry and asked Him to help me find a way out of this relationship and back to Him. The very next morning I had a minor car accident, no-one was injured but I was very shaken up. When I told my boyfriend what happened, he was absolutely furious and instead of offering me comfort he just yelled at me! In that moment strength rose from within me and I had the courage to say that was enough and our relationship needed to end! I sensed that courage came from God and He was welcoming me back with open arms. That felt so good and I was able to walk away from that boyfriend once and for all!

Becky discovered that God is incredibly gentle when we run to him.

I made some really poor choices when I was in my late teens. At the time, I wasn’t following Jesus – I was just following the crowd. A few years later, I decided to follow Jesus seriously. Over time, I found that God would remind me of something I’d done – maybe a random memory would pop up, or I’d hear a piece of music that took me back to a place. I’d always feel terribly ashamed and so guilty. But every time, I’d hear God’s gentle voice saying, now it’s time for us to deal with that, and then I’d talk to him about it and he would ever so gently reassure me and tell me that he’d forgiven me and it was time to move on. I’m still sad about the choices I made, but I really do know that I’m forgiven and those choices don’t define me now.

Rachel describes how she feels when she comes to God when she’s done something wrong.