“ ‘Yet even now’, declares the Lord, ‘Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and he relents over disaster.” Joel 2:12-13 ESV This passage of Scripture strikes at the heart of so much in life. It brings to us the essential need for the sinner – to return with all one’s heart to the Lord. And it offers the greatest encouragement to such sinners – God’s grace, mercy, love, and compassion. It might be said that all of life is lived in these statements. We must continually return to the Lord, being assured that He will forgive us and deal mercifully with us.