Confessing sins... a spiritual bath

About confession: 

1. 
   Confessing sins to a priest is Biblical. 
2. You are not confessing to the priest but to Jesus. You're simply receiving a guaranteed absolution of sins through the priest in persona Christi by the priest's authority granted in his ordination through apostolic succession (not available from any protestant pastor).
3. Confession is a bath for the soul. You don't always feel peace/relief immediately after confession, however. Sometimes it doesn't hit until later in the day or the next day. I've wondered about the delay at times, but it's usually a case that I needed to get over my anxiety about confession.
4. Confession is nerve-wracking for EVERYONE, no matter how many times you've done it. 😬 However, the priest is not judging you. You are making reparations to God for your disobedience.
5. It is recommended at least once a month or immediately after committing a mortal sin. Mortal sin separates us from God, while venial sin does not but does desensitize us to worse/more sins.
6. Confession is healing. I've had issues that would not leave me until after I confessed them, no matter how small of a venial sin or defect. Frequent confessions for issues that you trip on will continue to help until you no longer commit those sins. As the exorcists say, sin attaches those demons to you and confession detaches them, which leads to the next point...
7. Confession is more effective than 100 exorcisms! (Some say more than 1000 exorcisms.)
8. Be prepared. As soon as you confess, it seems like that's when the devil will tempt you the most to sin again. He does NOT want you becoming a saint. He wants you in hell where he can torment you into eternity. The more resistant you become, the worse the temptations are but the more readily you recognize them to avoid the trap.

Confession is one of the greatest sacraments to bring us closer to Christ and his divine mercy.