Dear child of God,

I want to start out by saying that none of us are perfect. We all fall short, and we all have things we need to work on. That's why Jesus had to come to Earth. If we were perfect and flawless, there would be no need for redemption and forgiveness of sins. If we were perfect, there would be no sin in the first place. We're not perfect, though.

We're not perfect, even though we sometimes feel as if we should be.
"I shouldn't be struggling with this," we think.

Or, "This isn't normal. He or she doesn't have these struggles."
Or, "God, I thought I gave this all to you. Why is it still plaguing me?"
Or, "How did I stray so far?"
Or, "Why do I still have to deal with this certain affliction, temptation, sin, etc.?"
Or, "Where are you, God?"

These are some of the thoughts that plague us multiple times each day. Whenever this happens, we need to remember a few things.

First, we are still human.

Yes, we are made new by the grace of God, but we are still human. We still deal with human desires, weaknesses and distractions. Our lives consist of daily struggles against our human nature. It's a struggle that none of us can win every single time. We will fall short and we will sin again, which brings me to my next point.

Second, God is always willing to forgive our sins.

All we need to do is realize that we've sinned, turn back to him, repent, and ask forgiveness in the name of Jesus. The first step is realizing the sin, and that can be the hardest part. We tend to make excuses for our behavior.

"Everyone else is doing this. I don't want to stick out, so I'm going to do it, too."
"It's not that bad. I'm not hurting anyone."
"The Bible doesn't say anything directly about this specific thing."
"This helps me deal with stress. God doesn't want me to be stressed, right?"

Whenever we start having these thoughts, it is very easy to blind ourselves to the fact that we're making excuses for our sins. It sometimes takes input from others to finally snap us out of this cycle. It's never easy, but we need to hear hard truths sometimes. We can only deny our sin for so long.

Here's the beauty in all of this, though. The moment we finally repent of our sins, God is waiting with open arms, just begging us to run to him and let him hold and guide us again. This brings me to my final point.

Third, God loves you!

It's very hard to believe most of the time, but it's absolutely and unchangingly true. God loves you with a love that no human can hope to understand. He loves you deeper than the oceans, wider than the expanse of the sky, higher than the highest, faintest stars, and longer than the longest line.

He loves you despite your past.
He loves you even after you commit that one sin that constantly plagues you.
He loves you, even when you fall short.
He loves you when you can't love yourself.
He loves you, even when you don't even acknowledge his existence.
Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.

Let me say that again. Nothing!

I could come up with a list of a million things, but none of those things would be enough to separate any of us from God's love. I can't emphasize this amazing truth enough.

So, while we are all imperfect, while we continuously fall short of what we should be, while we doubt God, his reality, his power and his love, He still loves you! He still loves us!

And that can never change.

Whenever you're struggling with something, remember that you are surrounded by brothers and sisters who can relate. They may not be able to relate to your exact situation, but they can relate to the fact that you're struggling, and they can be by your side through everything, just like God is. Just remember: You are never alone.

I may not know you, but I still love you, and I'm praying for you.

Signed,

An imperfect Christian