Imagine this: you’ve just been having the worst time of your life. You’ve fought with your parents, run away from home, somehow managed to get a plane ticket to some other city (Imagine! Don’t worry about the money!) and have just landed. But…as you get off the plane there are cops surrounding all the passengers, telling you that your plane has been missing for the last five years. You have not aged a day…but suddenly your parents, your family is five years older. You yourself were missing, presumed dead. For the last five years....

What would you do then? Would you run over and hug your parents? Would you do anything different in life?
I’ve basically stolen the plot from the Netflix show Manifest…but that’s because it really got me thinking. The show talks a lot about the blessing of a second chance: a shot at life you never had before.

I kept thinking: what would life be like if I got a second chance like that? And then I realised, that because of God’s love and the way it has set me free, I live in second chances every. single. Day! How so?

#1. Because God’s love has the potential to turn my mistakes around

One of the biggest reasons I have Hope even in the worst situations is because I am sure that God can turn around my worst mistakes, my darkest secrets into something beautiful. My mistakes don’t scare or surprise God: He sees each one as the potential to help and transform my life in a beautiful way. I have a second chance because I am never too far gone for God to help me!

#2. Because when God looks at me with love, I have a different identity

Growing up is a lot like being an empty chalkboard: the things that other people say and declare over you are like words scribbled on in permanent ink. Unworthy, tired, nalaayak, ugly, unwanted, broken: these are some words that weigh on our identity.
God’s kindness and tender love means that He looks at us, gently rubs away the harsh & hurtful words spoken over our soul, and fills them in with His promises and declarations about our identity. Because of God, I am loved. I have a purpose. I am beautifully created. I am chosen. I am healed. I am made new: this is my second chance come to life.

#3. Because God’s love gave me the biggest sacrifice It’s easy to give up something you don’t like to someone you do like…but what happens when your worst enemy asks for your favourite dessert? The decision isn’t as easy then. That’s more or less a simplification of what God did for us when He sent Jesus to the Earth. And that’s what Easter is all about: the biggest love sacrifice from God to us.