That day, it felt as if there were no one else in the room and the pastor was speaking directly to her. There was something about the verses on the screen that touched the hollow inside.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’”

Rest was the one thing she’d had a hard time finding. She was always on the go, always striving to stay two steps ahead of the bad things life might bring. There was never rest or a sense of peace inside.

She had always thought that pleasing God was like getting on a spiritual treadmill that went faster and faster. As long as you didn’t fall off and you didn’t make too many mistakes, you’d be okay. Let your good outweigh your bad. But the pastor framed things differently that day. He said you could never do enough good things to outweigh the bad because God was holy and you needed to be perfect in order to be accepted. At first, that crushed her. There was no hope for her because she had made so many mistakes in life.

“That’s why it’s called the gospel,” the pastor said. “That word means ‘good news.’ And if you are weary today and carrying a burden that’s too heavy, if you have a hollow feeling in your soul, God wants you to listen.”

Melissa couldn’t believe he had used that phrase, hollow feeling in your soul, because that was exactly how she felt.

“God knew you could not live a sinless life,” he continued. “So He sent Jesus to live the life you could not live on your own, and God the Father made Jesus the Son to be sin, to pay the penalty you deserved, and then raised Him to new life so that you could experience the same.

“You see, God doesn’t just let us into heaven by looking the other way at our sin. When you believe in Jesus, He robs your sin and gives you His righteousness. So you enter God’s presence not on the basis of anything good you’ve done, but on the holy life Jesus gives to you. And if you put your trust, your faith, your confidence in Him and what He accomplished for you, God looks at you as if you had always done everything right, just like Jesus did. And you can be forgiven and restored and know you have a place in heaven because Jesus paid the debt you couldn’t.”

Melissa had heard pastors and teachers before. She’d heard the Christmas message on TV when she was pregnant with David. But nothing had ever reached so deep inside.