1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. ~~~Phil. 3:1-15 I love it when I wake up in the morning and God's Word is on my heart and in my mind. Especially when it relates to an area of difficulty that I am dealing with. This morning I woke up (two hours before I had to) and Phil. 3:13-14 was on my mind. So I laid there and allowed God to speak to me and He was faithful to do so. Recently I tore the old caulking out of my bathtub. It was old and starting to mildew. We even pulled out some of the tile to make sure the mold had not spread. We called a professional to come out and look at it. This man inspected it and then told us we caught it before it could spread and told us what to do to fix it. This man could have lied to our face and told us the whole wall needed to be replaced and we would never have known the difference. But he was an honest man and wouldn't even take a dime from us. Repairs cost us around $10 instead of the hunreds plus that we thought we would pay. ANYWAY, Jack's eyesight isn't what it used to be so he let me caulk the tub. It wasn't easy to squeeze that caulk gun. I wanted a smooth, perfect, straight line with no bumps or blank spots. I couldn't get it to do that because I am not strong enough to keep squeezing...plus when i stopped sqeezing the caulk kept coming out and would leave this big huge messy bump! (Took my a while to realize I had to release the trigger!) Because I have a slight case of OCD, there was no way I was going to let those bumps remain. I mean, how could I sleep at night if I knew those bumps were there? The good news is that I was able to wet my finger and run it across the caulk thus smoothing it out and it looked good! When I woke up this morning with that scripture on my mind I began to talk with God. You see, my life is a lot like that caulk. I have tried to have a smooth, perfect straight walk with the Lord. But sad to say, that is not the case. I have a lot of areas in my walk where I rebelled against God because things didn't go my way. I have other areas that it looks like there are Gaps because I actually turned my back and didn't speak to Him. There were a few times in my life where I really messed up big time. I allowed sin in my life and let it take hold of me and even though I wanted to stop, it just kept happening. Those times remind me of the caulk that kept sqeezing out, leaving the big ugly bump. Well my problem here is that I can't stand the bumps, the gaps, the mess. I want to wet it all down and smooth it out. Not being able to do so has affected me in more ways that I want to say. It is an area that I have continued to pray on and pray on, asking God to please forgive me. And trying to believe He did forgive me, but still seeing the blob and bumps. So that is why this scripture is so important to me. God is telling me to "forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before," because I can't change them. They are a part of who I am. So instead, I look forward "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." By doing this, I don't have to see the past. I only see what is ahead of me, and that is Jesus Christ. Father, I am so thankful that when I ask You to forgive me of my past sins, You are faithful to forgive. I thank You that You have told me I don't have to look behind at my past and allow it to bring me down, nor will I allow it to make me feel dirty and sinful. I take my past and I give it all to You and instead, I face froward, running my race toward Jesus who is the author and perfecter of my faith. Thank You for being there for me. In Jesus name, AMEN.