Everyone has a pre-paid mulligan...have you accessed yours?

Before I delve into today’s message I want to thank everyone for their posts, notes, and prayers of encouragement in response to yesterday’s blog. You are such treasures, thank you! Twelve hours of sleep provided the necessary rest my mind and body needed yet my spirit still lacked its pick-me-up.  Awake before the alarm and ready for some quiet time, I started the coffee and grabbed my Bible.

Ed was at Men’s Breakfast, Mary sound asleep, and coffee in hand I snuggled into my glider to replenish and restore my weary spirit. I am working through the Bible in a year so today’s reading in Proverbs and Matthew proved to be just what the Great Physician ordered, with nutritional supplements in 1 Corinthians, Hebrews, Philippians, and  Psalms. I was reminded we are called to accept both good and the not-so-good. Not that life is terrible, please don’t misunderstand. We are so blessed yet feelings of defeat and doubt started to cloud my mind and eventually worked their way into my heart.

Today I choose to recognize my mulligan, a do over. In golf if you make a bad shot or hit out of the play area you can take a penalty and utilize a “mulligan”, aka, “do over”. The stressors and weight of the past month and yesterday might exist yet this weight does not have to lie upon my shoulders.

Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble
 in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls.  For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:29-30

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This morning I closed my eyes and gave it all to Jesus, “Lord, I need a mulligan!” as the tears released along with the burden then I heard, “Four!”Another golf term to warn others to “Look out!”, because a ball is coming at them. This time I don’t need to pay the penalty, it has already been paid.

 Jesus Christ is our mulligan. He took the punishment for our sins through his crucifixion and death on the cross, rising again three days later. Jesus was, is, and always will be my mulligan. I simply need to remember to look UP when life seems to run me down and surround me water holes.

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Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is coming. I don’t know what it will bring but I know Who brings it. I don’t know the direction of the wind as we walk through this course yet I know Who directs the wind and sees the strokes I’m making in life.

 Regardless of where life has you today I encourage you to fall on your knees and thank God for the breath in your lungs, the love in your heart, and the Blessed Mulligan available to each of us today through a relationship with Christ. 
 
When you humbly come before the throne with repentance and a desire in live for Him, He will answer. Four! Look out…you never know how God will work through your acceptance of His pre-paid mulligan.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

 Mulligans aren’t a new concept, ask Thomas (John 20:27) and Peter (John 21:17) the next time you open your Bible. As you join your church family for worship, prayer, and God’s message to you this Sunday I encourage you to thank God for the mulligan you already have or confess the sins of your life to Him and ask Jesus into your life and heart – there is a mulligan in heaven waiting for you