"For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).

I was a senior in college at the time, and I'd spent another night out with my friends. It was a typical night out—the same events repeated each weekend. Out on Friday night and again on Saturday night. I'd get back to my apartment, fall into bed in the wee hours of the morning, and wake up in the early afternoon, not able to recall much of anything at all. My heart and soul knew that I was a slave to sin, but I carried on anyway.

After another typical Saturday night out, I awoke. I looked at the clock. It was 10:30 in the morning, and for the first time in two years, my soul felt the heaviness of my decisions. I had fallen from grace. In that moment, my desire was to be at Mass. I'd stopped attending two years prior. But that night, I made it to Confession and Mass for the first time in a long while and realized how truly merciful our God is.

My life rattled that Sunday morning. I felt the weight of my sin. I felt the weight of my selfish choices. I felt the weight of . . . emptiness. For the first time in two years, I prayed again as I laid in bed, "Help me come back to you, Lord!" He gave me the strength to see and His mercy came to me.

Sister, you are not alone in the emptiness or the sin—whatever it looks like for you. His grace is here and His mercy is now. Reach for Him. Call to Him. And then act from a place that knows that He purifies from within. Let us approach Him with a willingness to turn back and begin again. Let us stand firm in truth: He waits for us with open arms and a heart ready to mercifully forgive.

You are His beloved—run to Him.

[bctt tweet="His grace is here and His mercy is now. // Shalini Blubaugh" username="blessedisshe__"]

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