'"Come now, and let us reason together,"
says the Lord,
"though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."'
Isaiah 1.18

It struck me tonight how much I need this verse right now. A new beginning. Another chance to start again. Everything I've done, all the things I've tried to chase after, all the times I've made myself as God; all are taken away. My constant failings, weaknesses, struggles; all are made as nothing. The thought that I've tried so many times and failed so many times, need not be entertained for long, as all has been forgiven. Everything. I don't need to wake up in the morning with an expectancy of failure. I don't need to walk the way I've walked a thousand times before, because I am now a different person. I was stained and filthy and hopeless. Now I have been made whiter than snow. I am a child of God. I have within me the same power that raised Jesus from death. I have a future before me that was written before the world was uttered. A future bright with the promise of success and glory. I need this verse because I need constant washing and a constant reminder that I don't have to keep making the same mistakes over. I am free to fly to freedom. Free to live a life that pursues true freedom from sin, decay, addiction, destruction. If I stay where I am then I will only fall back into my pit. I must remember the hole from which I was dug, and run away from it, towards the freedom found with Christ. I am free to fly to freedom.