I wish there were some wonderful place
Called "The Land of Beginning Again,"
Where all our mistakes
And all our heartaches
And all our poor selfish greed,
Could be dropped
Like a shabby old coat at the door
And never put on again.
I wish we could come on it all unawares
Like the hunter who finds a lost trail,
And I wish that the one
Whom our blindness has done
The greatest injustice of all,
Could be at the gate
Like an old friend who waits
For the comrade he's gladdest to hail.
--Louise Fletcher Tarkington

I'm glad to say there is such a place as The Land of Beginning Again, and you can find it no matter who you are or what your past has been. You'll find that place in these verses from the Bible:

"This is the message which we have heard from Him [Jesus] and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all... If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins"--here is that place where you can drop the shabby old coat of your past life--"He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:5,7,9).

That passage, like so many others in the Bible, contains a wonderful promise from your heavenly Father to you, His child who He dearly loves. God has given you "exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

God will back His promises with all of His power and ability, but there are conditions attached to these promises--conditions that you must meet. God sets His own terms, but how blessed you become when you meet God's terms! When you submit to His conditions, the wealth of His blessings and riches come tumbling down on you. These are the keys that unlock the treasure vaults of Heaven: knowing and meeting the conditions attached to each promise.

God not only wills but longs for you to have your every need supplied and the deepest desires of your heart fulfilled. King David wrote in the Psalms, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). But note the condition: "Delight yourself in the Lord." God will give you the desires of your heart--He said so and it is so--but the terms must be met. First you delight yourself in Him by loving Him first and foremost and doing your best to please Him, and then He grants your desires.

God's terms aren't hard. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

So many wonderful things are promised you in the Bible--forgiveness of sin, joy, peace, eternal life--that I couldn't begin to list them all! Those promises are there for you and could change your life completely. But you must meet the conditions, and the first condition is that you come to God and humbly confess that you need His help and forgiveness (1 John 1:9). He can and will forgive anything, but only if you ask Him to.

God's Word says, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). Don't be like Emmy the maid who, when the woman she worked for asked her, "Emmy, did you sweep under the rug?" answered, "Yes, ma'am, I sweep everything under the rug!"

Things swept under the rug have a way of coming back to haunt us. It doesn't pay to pretend all is well when it's not, but if you will humbly accept God's terms for forgiveness, you've got it! As soon as you confess you are a sinner and turn to Jesus Christ, the Savior, for help, He will come into your life and give you change and freedom like you've never known! "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)--including a new beginning!

* * *

If you haven't yet experienced God's love and forgiveness, you can right now by sincerely praying a simple prayer like the following:

Thank You, Jesus, for paying the price for my mistakes and wrongs, so I can be forgiven and put my past behind me. Thank You that You cleanse me from all sin--past sin, sin now, and future sin-by faith. I ask You now, dear Jesus, to please come into my heart, forgive me, and give me Your gift of eternal life. Amen.