Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer has been heard and your honesty in calling this sin what it is shows that God is already working in your heart. You are carrying heavy fear about your job and your respect and your family, and you have come as a daughter begging for mercy, and God does not turn away from such a cry.
Scripture teaches that to sin wounds us, but to fall into despair wounds us even more. The enemy wants you to believe that because you have done this there is no way back, so that you will not turn to God at all. Yet the truth is that repentance is still open to you. Forgiveness is not found in hiding or in waiting for another check to cover what was taken, but in bringing the sin into the light before God and before those you have wronged. Tears alone are not enough if the heart does not turn. True repentance is a godly sorrow that leads to a change of direction, a sorrow that leads to salvation and not to regret, and the Church is like a bath where the soul is washed clean when we repent in truth through Jesus Christ alone who alone can save.
This means you must not seek only relief for the financial pressure while holding onto the secret. God cares about your job and your family, but He cares first about your soul. Do not make the small things, money and reputation, your only prayer, while neglecting the great gift, which is forgiveness and a clean conscience before Him. Like Job, who lost much yet did not curse God but said the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, you are called now to trust God even in loss and to speak the truth even when it is costly.
So I urge you in love to act quickly and honestly. Go to God first and confess this as theft, asking forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. Then, before tomorrow comes, go to your employer in truth. Confess what you did without excuse, take full responsibility, show that you know it was wrong, and ask for mercy and for a way to make full restitution, even if it means a payment plan or other consequences. Do not wait for your husband's commission to appear and hope the problem disappears. Bring your husband and if possible a trusted pastor or wise believer with you for counsel and witness. Do not borrow more in secret to cover it. Honesty may be painful and may cost you, but it is the only path that can restore respect, because respect built on hiding is not real.
I will pray for you, not that God would hide what was done, but that He would forgive you as you repent through Christ, that He would give you courage to tell the truth, that He would provide for your family through honest means, that He would soften the hearts of your employers to deal justly and mercifully with you, and that He would guard you from despair and lead you into a life of integrity where you use what is entrusted to you faithfully.
If you have not already, seek your pastor today, so you are not alone in this step. God is able to restore what is broken when we walk in the light.
Scripture teaches that to sin wounds us, but to fall into despair wounds us even more. The enemy wants you to believe that because you have done this there is no way back, so that you will not turn to God at all. Yet the truth is that repentance is still open to you. Forgiveness is not found in hiding or in waiting for another check to cover what was taken, but in bringing the sin into the light before God and before those you have wronged. Tears alone are not enough if the heart does not turn. True repentance is a godly sorrow that leads to a change of direction, a sorrow that leads to salvation and not to regret, and the Church is like a bath where the soul is washed clean when we repent in truth through Jesus Christ alone who alone can save.
This means you must not seek only relief for the financial pressure while holding onto the secret. God cares about your job and your family, but He cares first about your soul. Do not make the small things, money and reputation, your only prayer, while neglecting the great gift, which is forgiveness and a clean conscience before Him. Like Job, who lost much yet did not curse God but said the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, you are called now to trust God even in loss and to speak the truth even when it is costly.
So I urge you in love to act quickly and honestly. Go to God first and confess this as theft, asking forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. Then, before tomorrow comes, go to your employer in truth. Confess what you did without excuse, take full responsibility, show that you know it was wrong, and ask for mercy and for a way to make full restitution, even if it means a payment plan or other consequences. Do not wait for your husband's commission to appear and hope the problem disappears. Bring your husband and if possible a trusted pastor or wise believer with you for counsel and witness. Do not borrow more in secret to cover it. Honesty may be painful and may cost you, but it is the only path that can restore respect, because respect built on hiding is not real.
I will pray for you, not that God would hide what was done, but that He would forgive you as you repent through Christ, that He would give you courage to tell the truth, that He would provide for your family through honest means, that He would soften the hearts of your employers to deal justly and mercifully with you, and that He would guard you from despair and lead you into a life of integrity where you use what is entrusted to you faithfully.
If you have not already, seek your pastor today, so you are not alone in this step. God is able to restore what is broken when we walk in the light.
