“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.”
Micah 7:18 (NIV)
Most people consider living a long life as a blessed life. Longevity is a blessing, but it is not the defining feature of a blessed life. The people who are blessed are those who receive the grace and mercy that God offers to all, whether they live 20, 40 or 100 years.
The thief on the cross couldn’t have been very old, and though his life was short, he received the promise of being in paradise with Jesus the day he died. Some might think that he wasted many years before that day, but the one righteous deed he did was in asking Jesus for mercy before he died. It was enough for God to receive him into heaven, which makes his short life a blessed one.
Someone may be dwelling on what they have lost, or what they are about to lose, but God is focused on giving all people the blessing of His salvation, and He does it through a million chances. Whether we lose health, a relationship or financial stability, God is always trying to draw us closer to Him. He not only desires all souls to be in heaven with Him, but to recognize His love here and now, in our present lives as well.
When our cross seems too much to bear, He is sanctifying us through that cross. If we were to ask God why He allowed a particular event to happen in our lives, His likely answer is, “Trust me, you cannot see what I see.”
Even when we fail to trust or believe, we have not used up our last chance, since God offers us a million more. It’s what abundant grace and unconditional love is all about.
Speaking of a million chances, I recently learned the life story of a contemporary Christian singer named Jamie Macdonald. Her story is not what one would expect of someone who writes and sings chart topping songs in the Christian genre.
Jamie’s journey to faith began when her parents divorced before her teen years. Her mother remarried, and her stepfather was mean and abusive, kicking her out of the house at age 15. Jamie went on a downward spiral, dropping out of high school, and becoming addicted to drugs.
She went to LA, and as young as she was, she lived in homelessness for about six years. After seeing many of her friends die of overdoses or be sent to prison, she remembered a time in her childhood when she believed in God, while at a church camp when she was 12 years old.
In the place she was at, surrounded by drug adducts, Jamie fell to her knees one day when she was 21, and cried out to God, asking Him to help her, and He began to do great things in her life. She finally left the drug scene in LA and received help to overcome her addiction. She always dreamed of a career in music, since she wrote and sang her own songs. While living in Kansas City, MO, she found work singing the songs she wrote, in local coffee shops. In 2025, she released her first chart topping single, ‘Desperate’, which was voted the break out Christian song of the year, which earned five music award nominations.
Jamie is living a totally new life in Christ these days, and although her first 21 years seemed to be wasted years, she has a deeper appreciation of God’s grace which gives us a ‘million chances’. She feels her life is blessed to sing only for Jesus, who inspired her to write and sing a song titled, ‘A million chances.’
Jesus once said that ‘the one who is forgiven much, will love Him much.’ May we all be able to see our life as blessed, in spite of the years we ever considered wasted or lost. Nothing is lost where God’s grace intervenes.
Lord, thank you for your abundant grace that gives us millions of chances to receive mercy, and your love that so powerfully transforms people. Amen
