---
title: "How to Come Back to God After Drifting Away"
description: "Drifted away from God and want to come back? Small first steps, short prayers for forgiveness, whether you would be welcome, and going back to church."
url: "https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-come-back-to-god"
lang: "en"
published: "2026-10-29"
modified: "2026-10-29"
author: "Cal Hewitt"
tags: ["coming back to god","drifting away","prodigal son","forgiveness","returning to church","luke 15","psalm 103"]
image: "https://biblenudge.com/og/blog-how-to-come-back-to-god.jpg"
alternates:
  es: "https://biblenudge.com/es/blog/como-volver-a-dios.md"
---

# How to Come Back to God After Drifting Away

[Cal Hewitt](https://biblenudge.com/about/cal-hewitt)Published October 29, 2026

- coming back to god
- drifting away
- prodigal son
- forgiveness
- returning to church
- luke 15
- psalm 103

![How to Come Back to God After Drifting Away](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-come-back-to-god/featured.jpg)

Yes, people come back to God after years away, and the way back can start with something very small: one sentence said to God tonight, in your own words. In the story Jesus told about a son who came home, the father saw him "while he was still far off" and ran to meet him. Christian traditions describe different ways back, with no timetable and no feeling you have to reach before you begin.

This is for you if you drifted through busy years of work and small children, a move, a hurt at church, something you did, a doubt or a loss, or for no reason you can name. It is for you too if you have no church words at all and simply want something back.

Pew Research Center's 2023-24 study of American religious life surveyed 36,908 U.S. adults from July 17, 2023, through March 4, 2024, and [reported](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/) that Christianity loses about six people through religious switching for every one it gains. The same study found that about a third of U.S. adults attend religious services at least once a month.

## If you only have a minute

### A prayer for tonight

"God, be merciful to me, a sinner," from Luke 18:13. It is one line.

### Would you be welcome?

Luke 15 tells three stories about something lost being looked for.

### One small first step

Say that one line once, aloud or under your breath, and let it count.

### If tonight is heavy

Help lines, with their countries, are at the end.

## How to come back to God, and what to do first

There is no single first step, and people who have come back describe very different ones. Some began with a prayer of almost no words. Some read one psalm slowly, a few lines a night, because a whole reading plan felt like too much. Some sent a short message to a priest or pastor. Some watched a service online before they were ready to walk into a building, or sat near the back of a service so they could slip out at the end, or walked into an empty church on a weekday just to sit for a while. Some went to confession after many years.

These come in no fixed order, and you do not have to do more than one of them. A step that would be easy for one person can be the hardest thing in the world for another, so start with the one that feels possible tonight, even if it is the smallest.

![A phone lying face down beside a cup of tea on a kitchen table at night, lit by one lamp](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-come-back-to-god/the-kitchen-table.jpg)

*Some first steps are taken at the kitchen table, late.*

## Which prayer to say when you ask God's forgiveness

If you have no words of your own, several traditions print short prayers for exactly this moment. Each comes from its own church; use whichever words fit you.

The shortest is in the Bible itself. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells of two men praying in the temple: a Pharisee who is confident of his own goodness, and a tax collector who stands far off and prays one line, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." The [Orthodox Church in America](https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/spirituality/the-jesus-prayer) prints the Jesus Prayer, which is one line too, and [Bible verses for feeling far from God](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-feeling-far-from-god) gives it with its tradition. The [USCCB](https://www.usccb.org/prayers/act-contrition), the body of Catholic bishops in the United States, prints an Act of Contrition, and the [Church of England](https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer) keeps the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, whose general confession speaks of straying "like lost sheep," the same image Jesus uses in Luke 15.

Short prayers for asking forgiveness

Hover or tap a row to highlight it. Sort by a column heading; a third click puts the rows back in their original order.

|  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| The tax collector's prayer | Luke 18:13 | "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." | One line |
| The Jesus Prayer | Orthodox, from the [Orthodox Church in America](https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/spirituality/the-jesus-prayer) | "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." | One line |
| Act of Contrition | Catholic, printed by the [USCCB](https://www.usccb.org/prayers/act-contrition) | "O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you" | A short paragraph |
| General confession | Anglican, in the 1662 [Book of Common Prayer](https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer) | "Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep." | A short paragraph |

PrayerThe tax collector's prayer

Where it comes fromLuke 18:13

How it begins"God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

LengthOne line

PrayerThe Jesus Prayer

Where it comes fromOrthodox, from the [Orthodox Church in America](https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/spirituality/the-jesus-prayer)

How it begins"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

LengthOne line

PrayerAct of Contrition

Where it comes fromCatholic, printed by the [USCCB](https://www.usccb.org/prayers/act-contrition)

How it begins"O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you"

LengthA short paragraph

PrayerGeneral confession

Where it comes fromAnglican, in the 1662 [Book of Common Prayer](https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer)

How it begins"Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep."

LengthA short paragraph

Here is one suggestion of our own, not any church's rule: choose one of these and say it once tonight, aloud or under your breath. Then let that count as the first step. You can come back to the longer prayers later, or never, and the one line is still a prayer.

## Would God welcome me back?

Under questions like "Will God forgive me if I backslide?" there is often a plainer fear: that the door is shut. The chapter Jesus spent on that question begins with who was in the room. In the World English Bible:

> Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

Jesus answers the complaint with three stories. In the first, a shepherd notices one sheep is missing, leaves the ninety-nine, searches until he finds it, and carries it home. In the second, a woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds one lost coin. In both, the one doing the searching is the owner, not the thing that was lost, and both end with friends called in to celebrate.

The third story is the one most people know. A younger son takes his inheritance, spends it, goes hungry, and rehearses a speech on the way home. Then:

> I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”
>
> He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.
>
> The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
>
> But the father said to his servants, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.”

Notice where the speech stops. The son had planned to ask to be made "as one of your hired servants," and he never gets to that part. The father calls for the robe, the ring, the sandals and the feast first. Then the story turns to the elder brother, who refuses to come in, and the father goes out to him as well. The story ends without saying whether he went in.

Readers have found different things in it. Henri Nouwen, in [The Return of the Prodigal Son](https://henrinouwen.org/book/the-return-of-the-prodigal-son/) (1992), reads the son's return alongside the father's compassion and the elder brother's resentment. The [Catholic Catechism](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_8/i_the_fight_for_the_inner_man.html), at paragraph 1439, reads the parable as a pattern of conversion: coming to oneself, returning, confession, welcome and the joy of being restored. Amy-Jill Levine, in [Short Stories by Jesus](https://www.harpercollins.com/products/short-stories-by-jesus-amy-jill-levine) (2014), places the stories inside Jewish debates of the time about table fellowship, honor and restoration, and cautions against flattening them into a simple modern lesson.

What the chapter gives you, read from the side of the person coming home, is an image of being looked for, and of being met on the road before the speech is finished. If the son's rehearsed words are the part that catches you, [what the Bible says about shame](https://biblenudge.com/blog/what-does-the-bible-say-about-shame) reads them closely, and if you are the parent still waiting by the window, [Bible verses for a prodigal child](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-a-prodigal-child) reads the same chapter from the father's side.

![A front door left slightly open at dusk, with the porch light on and a doormat on the step](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-come-back-to-god/the-porch-light.jpg)

*A light left on for somebody on the way home.*

## Why do people drift away from God?

People describe very ordinary routes: years of work and small children when Sunday mornings simply filled up, a move away from the church they knew, something that happened at church, a doubt nobody wanted to hear, a death, or a slow fading that nobody noticed until it had already happened. None of these makes a person worse than anybody else.

The large surveys describe groups rather than any one life. Pew's 2014 study, in its [2016 report](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/05/12/religion-in-the-u-s/), found that religious switching happened mostly in childhood and young adulthood. Among adults who had become religiously unaffiliated, the reasons people gave included disagreeing with religious teachings, gradually drifting away, and no longer believing.

It also helps to know that the distance and the church calendar are two different things. A person can stop attending and still pray most nights, and a person can sit in the same pew every week and still feel far away. If your distance began with something that was done to you at church, [church hurt](https://biblenudge.com/blog/church-hurt) is written for that. If what troubles you most is a silence when you pray, [Bible verses for feeling far from God](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-feeling-far-from-god) starts there.

## Am I still saved if I drifted away?

Start with the words, because some of them have been used as weapons. Each tradition describes the same movement in its own language:

The words people use for drifting and returning

Hover or tap a row to highlight it. Sort by a column heading; a third click puts the rows back in their original order.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Backsliding | The King James wording in [Jeremiah 3:22](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah-3-22/) and [Hosea 14:4](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Hosea-14-4/); many modern translations say "faithlessness" |
| Falling away | Hebrews 6:6 and Luke 8:13 |
| Conversion, penance, reconciliation | Catholic teaching; "lapsed Catholic" is a description some Catholics dislike |
| Metanoia | Orthodox teaching, a change of mind and heart |
| Teshuvah | Jewish teaching, from the Hebrew root shuv, to return |
| Rededication | Many evangelical and Pentecostal churches |

WordBacksliding

Where it comes fromThe King James wording in [Jeremiah 3:22](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah-3-22/) and [Hosea 14:4](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Hosea-14-4/); many modern translations say "faithlessness"

WordFalling away

Where it comes fromHebrews 6:6 and Luke 8:13

WordConversion, penance, reconciliation

Where it comes fromCatholic teaching; "lapsed Catholic" is a description some Catholics dislike

WordMetanoia

Where it comes fromOrthodox teaching, a change of mind and heart

WordTeshuvah

Where it comes fromJewish teaching, from the Hebrew root shuv, to return

WordRededication

Where it comes fromMany evangelical and Pentecostal churches

In Wesleyan, evangelical and Pentecostal writing, "backslider" is a theological term for somebody who has turned from a faith they once professed. Many people hear it as a label pinned on them. Both of those are true, and if the word has stung, you can set it down and use whichever word fits you.

On whether a person who drifted is still saved, the traditions genuinely disagree, and they sit here side by side. The [Westminster Confession](https://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/WCFScriptureProofs.pdf), chapter 17, teaches the perseverance of the saints and distinguishes falls that last for a time from final abandonment, so for the person who wants to return, a fall for a time is not counted as the end. Wesleyan and Arminian traditions hold that falling away can be real and final, and still call those who have fallen back to faith, as John Wesley does in his 1778 sermon ["A Call to Backsliders"](https://www.godrules.net/library/wesley/274wesley.htm). Catholic and Orthodox teaching frame the question through repentance, confession and reconciliation, as the [Catechism](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_4.html) describes, and offer a sacrament for the return itself.

The disagreement is real and it stands. Each tradition, in its own words, still calls the person who wants to come back toward return.

Two passages often handed to people in this place are Hebrews 6:4-8 and Hebrews 10:26-31, warnings in a sermon-like letter about deliberately repudiating the faith, which commentators apply to quite different readers. If those verses keep you awake, [have I committed the unforgivable sin](https://biblenudge.com/blog/have-i-committed-the-unforgivable-sin) reads them in full.

## How do I know if God has forgiven me?

If what you carry is one particular thing you did, this may be the question underneath all the others. The passage Bible Nudge offers for guilt and regret speaks to it. [Psalm 103](https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-103-8-12) is a psalm of praise recalling God's character, and the whole psalm is spoken to the singer's own soul. It opens, "Praise Yahweh, my soul!" A few lines later it says this:

> Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Look at the tense. These lines describe what has already been done with the wrong, in the past tense, rather than one more condition you must meet first. The next verse says, "Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him," which sits very close to the father on the road in Luke 15. For anyone asking how to heal the soul, a psalm addressed to the soul is a good place to start reading.

Read [Psalm 103:8-12](https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-103-8-12) slowly once, and hold its question: "What are you still holding that this says has already been carried away?"

The traditions give their own answers to how a person knows. The [Catholic Catechism](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_4.html) calls Penance "the sacrament of conversion" and "the first step in returning to the Father," and the priest's words of absolution are its word of pardon. Anglican services pair the general confession with an absolution, as the [Book of Common Prayer](https://www.bcponline.org/) sets out. Many other churches pray for forgiveness directly, with no set form. If one particular thing will not leave you alone, a priest or pastor can talk it through with you, and [Bible verses for guilt and shame](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-guilt-and-shame) reads this psalm at greater length.

## Going back to church, if that is part of it

For some people, coming back to God includes coming back to a church, and for others it does not, or not yet. If it does, each tradition has its own way in.

In the Catholic Church, parish welcome pages commonly describe contacting the parish office, speaking with a priest, coming to Mass and asking about Confession. The [USCCB](https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/penance) explains the sacrament of Penance, and the [Catechism](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_two/article_4.html), paragraphs 1422 to 1498, describes it as contrition, confession, satisfaction and absolution. Catholics bound by it have an obligation to receive Communion in the Easter season, with exceptions under canon law, and the parish priest is the person to ask about what applies to you after a long time away.

In the Orthodox Church, confession is made with a priest present. The [Orthodox Church in America](https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/02/08/3-sunday-of-the-prodigal-son) describes the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, read before Great Lent, as a call to "come to ourselves" and begin the way back to God, and its [questions pages](https://www.oca.org/questions) answer people asking how to start; practice varies by parish. In Anglican and Episcopal churches, the way back is usually worship, conversation and a word with the local priest, as the [Church of England](https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-action/faith-life) and [The Episcopal Church](https://www.episcopalchurch.org/what-we-believe/) describe, with wording that varies by province. Evangelical and nondenominational churches often say "come home," "reconnect" or "rededicate," and Pentecostal churches such as the [Assemblies of God](https://ag.org/Beliefs/Position-Papers) speak of restoration and return to fellowship.

For some readers, the welcome they are looking for is in a different church from the one they left, and that is a real answer, especially where the leaving began with harm.

If you would like to reach out but do not know what to say, here is a first message in our own words that you can copy to a priest or pastor: "I have been away a long time and I would like to talk. I am not sure where to start." If the service itself is what you dread, [going to church for the first time](https://biblenudge.com/blog/going-to-church-for-the-first-time) walks through what happens, and [how to find a church](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-find-a-church) helps with choosing one.

![A pair of shoes set neatly by a front door beside a folded coat on a bench in morning light](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-to-come-back-to-god/shoes-by-the-door.jpg)

*Getting ready to go out the door is a step of its own.*

## People in the Bible who left and were taken back

The Bible keeps the stories of people who walked away, and it does not hide them. On the night before the crucifixion, Jesus tells Peter, ahead of the denial, "when once you have turned again, establish your brothers" (Luke 22:32). Peter then denies knowing him three times (Luke 22:54-62). After the resurrection, the message at the tomb is to tell "his disciples, and Peter" (Mark 16:7), with Peter named on his own. The breakfast by the sea in John 21 follows, where Peter is asked three times whether he loves Jesus, and [Bible verses for forgiving yourself](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-forgiving-yourself) tells that morning in full.

Thomas was absent on the first evening the disciples saw the risen Jesus (John 20:19-23). Eight days later he is in the room, and he says, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). John Mark left Paul and Barnabas partway through their first mission together (Acts 13:13), and the two men later quarreled so sharply over whether to take him again that they parted (Acts 15:36-41). Years afterward, Paul writes, "he is useful to me for service" (2 Timothy 4:11), and Colossians 4:10 sends instructions to welcome him. Demas, named as a coworker in Colossians 4:14, is later said to have deserted Paul (2 Timothy 4:10), and the text leaves his story open.

## What the prophets say about returning

The prophets use one word over and over: return. Hosea 14 opens, "Israel, return to Yahweh, your God; for you have fallen because of your sin," and then gives the people the words to say on the way back: "Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good." Jeremiah 3:12-14 and 3:22 call faithless Israel back. Joel 2:12-13 asks for a torn heart rather than torn clothes. Isaiah 55:6-7 invites the wicked to leave their way and return. Zechariah 1:3 says, "Return to me," and Malachi 3:7 says, "Return to me, and I will return to you."

Each of these is spoken to Israel as a people, often in or near exile, and Christians who read them devotionally for one person are borrowing words first given to a whole nation. In Jewish practice, Hosea 14 is read on Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as [Sefaria](https://www.sefaria.org/Hosea.14) notes. Maimonides, in his [Laws of Repentance](https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Repentance.1), describes teshuvah as recognizing the wrong, regretting it, confessing it and changing how one acts.

Christian commentators differ over whether the call to return is a condition for being welcomed or an invitation made possible by mercy already given, and both readings are held by careful people. What these passages give, either way, is return spoken of as something God invites, in words the Bible kept for a whole people and for named people who left.

## What people say that lands hard, and what to say instead

Some things said with good intentions land hard on somebody coming back. If you have said one of these to somebody, a kinder line is easy to find. The lines on the right are our own wording.

Lines that land hard, and lines of our own

Hover or tap a row to highlight it. Sort by a column heading; a third click puts the rows back in their original order.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| "Backslider" or "prodigal," used as a name for a person | "I'm really glad you're here, and you don't have to explain the years." |
| "If you were truly saved, you would never have left." | "Whatever the years held, I'm glad you're back." |
| "You just need to get back in church." | "If you ever want company at a service, I'll come with you, and there's no pressure either way." |
| "God never left, you did," said to somebody hurt at church | "I'm sorry for what happened to you there." |
| "You have wasted your years." | "Those years were yours, and the door is open now." |
| "Come back or else." | "Come whenever you're ready. There's no deadline." |

What is sometimes said"Backslider" or "prodigal," used as a name for a person

A line of our own instead"I'm really glad you're here, and you don't have to explain the years."

What is sometimes said"If you were truly saved, you would never have left."

A line of our own instead"Whatever the years held, I'm glad you're back."

What is sometimes said"You just need to get back in church."

A line of our own instead"If you ever want company at a service, I'll come with you, and there's no pressure either way."

What is sometimes said"God never left, you did," said to somebody hurt at church

A line of our own instead"I'm sorry for what happened to you there."

What is sometimes said"You have wasted your years."

A line of our own instead"Those years were yours, and the door is open now."

What is sometimes said"Come back or else."

A line of our own instead"Come whenever you're ready. There's no deadline."

Two passages often get used this way too. Jeremiah 3:12 is sometimes read as a personal summons, when the oracle speaks to Israel as a people. Revelation 2:4, "I have this against you, that you left your first love," is sometimes aimed at everyone who feels far, when the letter it belongs to (Revelation 2:1-7) is written to the church in Ephesus, a congregation praised in the same breath for its endurance. And any line that says how long a return should take, or how it ought to feel, puts a weight on somebody that the traditions above do not ask them to carry.

If you are the parent, husband, wife or friend of somebody who drifted, one idea of our own: send one message that asks nothing back. "Thinking of you today. No need to reply." For the parent who is still waiting, [Bible verses for a prodigal child](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-a-prodigal-child) is written for that long wait.

## Questions people ask

### Can the Holy Spirit leave a backslider?

The answer depends on the tradition. Reformed teaching, following the [Westminster Confession](https://www.pcaac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/WCFScriptureProofs.pdf), generally holds that the Spirit does not abandon a true believer, even through a long fall. Wesleyan and some Pentecostal writing, in the line of [John Wesley](https://www.godrules.net/library/wesley/274wesley.htm), allows that a person can fall away seriously, and still calls that person back.

### What is the difference between backsliding and falling away?

"Backsliding" is the King James word in Jeremiah and Hosea, used there for Israel's turning from God, and it is usually used today for a believer who has fallen back. "Falling away" comes from Hebrews 6:6 and Luke 8:13, and commentators read it variously as abandoning belief altogether or as a failure for a time. Which one a church means depends on its theology, so it is fair to ask a pastor what they mean by the word.

### What does "draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" mean?

The line comes from James 4:8, and it sits inside a longer call in James 4:7-10 to submit to God, cleanse your hands, grieve and humble yourself. It describes the movement going both ways at once: a step toward God, met by God's nearness.

## If tonight is harder than this

Sometimes the distance from God sits beside a low mood that will not lift. That is a reason to talk to someone, not a sign of failed faith. The [NHS](https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/feelings-and-symptoms/low-mood-sadness-depression/) says low mood that lasts two weeks or more is a reason to talk to a GP, a family doctor. The [National Institute of Mental Health](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression) describes persistent sadness, hopelessness, loss of interest, changes in sleep or appetite, and thoughts of death as reasons to seek professional help.

If you are thinking about ending your life, please reach a person tonight. In the United States, call [988](tel:988) or text [988](sms:988), or reach the [988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline](https://988lifeline.org/) online, with [help in Spanish](https://988lifeline.org/es/obten-ayuda/) too. In Canada, call or text [9-8-8](https://988.ca/). In the United Kingdom and Ireland, [Samaritans](https://www.samaritans.org/) is on 116 123. In Australia, [Lifeline](https://www.lifeline.org.au/) is on 13 11 14. In Spain, the [Línea 024](https://www.sanidad.gob.es/linea024/home.htm) is run by the Ministerio de Sanidad. In Mexico, [Línea de la Vida](https://www.gob.mx/salud/lineadelavida) answers. In Argentina, the [Centro de Asistencia al Suicida](https://www.asistenciaalsuicida.org.ar/) is there. Everywhere else, Colombia included, [Find A Helpline](https://findahelpline.com/) lists services by country.

If the distance began with abuse in a church or a family, in the United States the [National Domestic Violence Hotline](https://www.thehotline.org/) is there, in the United Kingdom [Refuge](https://refuge.org.uk/), and in Australia [1800RESPECT](https://www.1800respect.org.au/).

## Where to go next

Tonight, say "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" once, in your own voice. Then read Luke 15:1-10, the sheep and the coin that were looked for until they were found.

[Bible Nudge](https://biblenudge.com/) offers one passage with the verses around it, for whatever you are carrying. [Find a passage](https://biblenudge.com/nudge).

## Words that come up here

Tap a term to see what it means.

**Backsliding.** The King James word in Jeremiah and Hosea for turning away from God. Some churches use it as a theological term; many people hear it as a label.

**Metanoia.** A Greek word Orthodox Christians use for repentance, a change of mind and heart.

**Teshuvah.** The Jewish word for repentance, from the Hebrew root shuv, to return.

**Shabbat Shuvah.** The Sabbath of Return, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when Hosea 14 is read.

**Absolution.** The words of pardon a priest speaks after confession in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican practice.

**Act of Contrition.** A short Catholic prayer of sorrow for sin, often said in Confession.

**Yahweh.** The personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible, printed where many translations have "the LORD".

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