Forgiven!  What a beautiful word!  When was the last time you considered the blessed truth that, as a child of God, you are forgiven?  Think about what the Scripture says.  “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).  “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).  “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).  Somehow, the omniscient God removes our sins to the point that they are forgotten – what a wonder!  The trouble is that we remember.  Learning from those memories is good, but often the memory of our sins, forgiven though they are, traps us, discourages us, and focuses us on guilt.  We are rendered ineffective in service or simply unwilling to serve at all.  If that’s where you find yourself today, consider and embrace your Lord’s forgiveness.  Then carry on with joy and serve!  Let me put it this way in the words of a song I heard this week: “Every step I take forward the past tries to follow, / Reminding me of what I have been. / Mistakes and transgressions, those unlearned lessons / I’ve gone through time and again. / I know God can’t recall what is cast in the sea; / That’s easy for Him and so hard for me. / But there’ll come a day when I see Him in glory, / Then I’ll only recall Calvary’s side of my story, / When my sins were forgiven, my salvation was bought. / Oh, what a moment when I can’t remember everything He forgot!”  Amen!