It was a moment of angry outburst. She completely lost control. It shocked everyone in the house. The young woman took her plate (a heavy, ceramic plate), and with all her force she threw it to the hardwood floor, shattering it into thousands of pieces.

The reason why she did it, doesn't matter. She could have been you.

The after-effect of that outburst was not just a shattered plate, but also a scarred floor. There on the floor was the ugly gash left as a result of her decision. Every time she came into the room, there was the reminder.

Most of the time she didn't have to think about it. A beautiful floor rug was purchased and covered the floor. The scar was "gone".

But the day came when the rug had to be moved. And there it was. The ugly scar seemed to stare at her.

Sin is like that. God's grace is like a beautiful covering that soothes us, and covers-over a multitude of sin.

1 Peter 4:8 says, Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

God's love is especially good at covering sin. But the reality is, when we look behind the tapestry of grace, forgiveness, mercy and love-well, the ugly scar remains.

Just like you cannot take the nail-hole out of a board, just like you cannot take the scar off the floor, just like you cannot reassemble the shattered plate-sin leaves it's consequence in our lives.

So how do you let go? How do you get past it? How do you really forgive? It all begins with prayer.

There is something about the regular experience of coming into the Holy presence of God that heals the wounds of our life.

I was reminded of that recently while reading a book entitled Pivotal Praying. The author told about a woman who joined a prayer ministry at church. Part of what they would do is partner-up, and go to various neighborhoods in their community to pray for those living in the houses.

One night, she arrived late and she and another late-arrival, took the one remaining prayer assignment and drove to the neighborhood. As soon as they arrived, she began to cry. "I cannot pray here", she explained, "my ex-husband lives in that house with his mistress."

Later, when the prayer team reassembled to share their experiences of the night, this is what she shared.

"For the longest time I just sat there and wept. My friend didn't say much either. She just cried with me. I had every reason in the world that should not pray. But after a while, it was as if I heard God saying to me, 'I brought you here.' So finally I began to pray. I remembered that God had brought me here to pray for those who were living in bondage that they might be set free. And right then I realized that God wanted to set me free too. And the way to freedom was to 'let go' and forgive."

Sometimes God does bring us to painful places in our lives-not because he wants to hurt us, but because he wants to set us free.

Maybe today there is bitterness, anger, pain, frustration, resentment, hurt, disappointment, hatred, or wounds that is a part of your journey. While you are "sitting there", did you ever consider that maybe there is a prayer that could set you free?

There will always be lasting consequences to our sin. The scars are still there, if you know where to look. But God is more than able to cover over a multitude of sin, with his amazing grace of love.