A Scarlet Letter "A"

Sometimes in life, we feel like we are wearing our sins on our sleeves for all the world to see. Whether we have been in an adulterous relationship, have lied or have simply not been close to God, we can feel like every single person we meet knows all of our dirty laundry. I recently read Falling Forward by Sandi Patty and a section of her book jumped out at me. When we feel like everyone knows our secret sins, it simply is not true!

Sandi Patty tells this story in her book, ""I sometimes feels like I'll always go around with a scarlet A on my chest." I nodded, as I, too, know the heavy burden of feeling eternally labelled as "That Famous Christian Singer Who Sinned Big-time."

Then she continued, "Yesterday as I was trying to take a nap, I was so tired, but sleep wouldn't come. Then this clear mental image floated into my mind, and I can't help but wonder if it was God's message of encouragement - not only to us, but to all women who feel unworthy to hold their heads up as God's daughters. In my mind I saw every one of the thousands of women at the convention center this weekend wearing a scarlet letter A on her chest. Sometimes the A stood for adultery, but other times it stood for abortion or anger or addiction. Some stood for abuse victim, some were branded with anorexia or appetite, and some wore the label of abandoned. I realized it isn't just the big public failures that weight us down as women. We're all sporting some sort of invisible label that feels heavy on our hearts."

"Isn't that interesting?" I commented, curious.

"Yes, well, it gets even more interesting. As I got a closer look, I could see that the A on every woman's chest actually stood for atoned - which means paid for in full - and that letter was scarlet because it was written in Christ's blood."

At this point, I threw up my hands and said, "That is amazing! What a beautiful picture of grace. If we could only see what God sees, we'd hold our heads up and be free!" (Falling Forward, Sandy Patty, page 8).

As for myself, I wear a multitude of scarlet A's on my chest (anger, appetite, alone, abandoned, anxiety), but the one scarlet A that takes precedence over all of the other letter A's is that I have been atoned - I have been forgiven through the grace of God and through the awesome actions of his son, Jesus. Not all of the scarlet letters that I wear start with the letter A. I also wear the baggage of sadness, depression, hatred and stoicism.

Another Woman of Faith, Sheila Walsh says the following about our scarlet letters. "And the greatest thing I discovered [was that I could be] fully known and fully. loved. Jesus knew the worst and He loved me. What a relief to know the worst about yourself and at the same moment be embraced by God. It's so liberating to reach the end of yourself." (Falling Forward, Sandi Patty, page 13).

What are some of the scarlet letters that you wear on a daily basis? Do you wear the wonderful badge of being atoned? How do you deal with knowing that you wear a scarlet letter A on your chest? Do you cry out to God and ask for His mercy? Do you just feel like crawling into a corner to hide from the world? Or do yo remember that the best scarlet letter that you wear is ATONED!