Extreme Makeover

As soon as I began reading this chapter, my mind instantly pictured sitting in front of the television and watching the show Extreme Home Makeover. You know the show where they build a less fortunate family a new home with the latest appliances etc-makes me cry like a baby every time!

Sometimes we do need to get the bugs out as Claudia and Kim point out in “One Girl Can Change the World”, similar to getting a complete makeover.

My favorite question: “How do you feel after confessing your sins to God? Do you believe that you are forgiven?

My response: I always feel like a giant weight has been lifted when I confess my sins to God. I love knowing that God, our heavenly Father, loves us no matter what. His love is unconditional. There is nothing we could ever do that would make Him love us less. How powerful! Sometimes after asking for forgiveness and feeling better because it’s off my chest, I still have a hard time believing that I am really forgiven and that God does not see me as any less of a person. What a difficult concept to grasp! There is one video that always comes to mind when I think about God’s forgiveness of our sins. I would encourage you to watch it. Its Rob Bell’s NOOMA video called “Lump”. In this video Rob explains that there is nothing we could ever do that would make Him love us less and we don’t need to try to hide or run away when we mess up. It’s a really powerful- watch it!

Challenge: At a Christ in Youth Conference I attended last summer they had a day where everyone attending the conference received two wrist bands. We were told to write a sin we personally struggled with on each wristband. We turned them inside out so that our sins were kept to ourselves and wore them all day long as a reminder. At the end of the evening session we broke the “chains” (wristbands) off our neighbor and left them on the floor as we walked out of the auditorium symbolizing God taking away our sins through his crucifixion on the cross. This was such a powerful demonstration to me of how we should view our sins. You may want to try this. Or at least take time to honestly examine all the areas of your life and be real with yourself on what you need to stop doing and how you can take steps to break the sin. If you are comfortable, it may even be a wise idea to discuss this sin that you are struggling with with a close friend you know will hold you accountable or an adult or mentor that you trust.