Regrets

Like all of us, I too have regrets in my past.

Not meeting Jesus earlier.
My behaviour in many situations.
My response to several circumstances.
The lack of love or compassion I failed to show many who crossed my path.
How I have been as a daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter, cousin. Wife, mother. Friend, coworker, band mate, employee.
My walk as a follower of Jesus.

Like the image above, many days my regrets follow me around.

What I realized this morning is like the elephant’s egrets, my regrets were meant to serve a purpose.
But not be my 24/7 companion.

When regrets take His place, we take our gaze off His face.

Regrets are a reminder to us to drop to our knees before Him, confess our failings, ask for His grace, then walk in His strength.

Not cause us to do a u-turn away from our present and future living.

God didn’t save us to leave us where He found us, full of regrets, wounds and sin.

He brings us up out of the kingdom of darkness and cleans us off with His holiness.

He clothes us in His identity as one of His household.

He infuses us with His love, like a long fragrant perfumed bath.

He envelops us with hope.

He empowers us with His strength.

And He Himself wants to walk with us, every moment of every day.

Notice the verb tense changed to present, even though I was referring to my past, when He met me, where He found me.

God’s redemption may have occurred once for our salvation, yet it is meant to occur daily for our freedom.

We are fragile beings who have a tendency to focus on what is going wrong instead of all which is going well with us.

God knew this as our Designer.

For God too faced regrets, as we can see in the Word.

He regretted making man at least once, leading to the flood. He regretted His children falling into sin and being lured away by placing their hopes in false gods. (Israel, over and over again)

Yet He never showed regret for giving us the gift of new life through Jesus.

Living a new life means having no permanent regrets following us around. Your regrets get to flock into your past when you place them in Jesus’ loving hands. They become part of your history, not features in your ongoing story.

Regrets turn into redirection as God helps us live the life He has waiting for us to live in Him.

Make a list of your regrets. Bring them before the Lord and ask Him to guide you out of your past into the life ahead of you today. Then toss that list into the fireplace, or run it through your shredder.

God makes all things new, even me and you!

Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.

Trust the love of God to help you uproot those regrets, so you can bear the fruit and enjoy the life He wants for you in this moment.

The life you spend together.