When you think about your past, how does it make you feel?

When you think about all your past mistakes, how do you feel?

Do you live with regret?

Or do you believe that through the blood of Jesus your past has been washed completely clean?

Mistakes Or Lessons?

If you know me well, you will know that my teen years weren’t pretty.

However, there is a well used statement that I just don’t get.

“If I could go back and do it over, I would do it so differently.”

Would you really?

I have a hard time with that line, because if I would actually have the opportunity to relive parts of my life, would I really choose differently?

This is my life…

I made bad choices, I dealt with the consequences of those choices, but I also learned from them.

Got that?

The bad choices I made taught me a lot.

I understand that the person who turns to alcohol is trying desperately to drown out pain that they have no idea how to deal with.

I understand that person addicted to anything is doing the same thing.

I have a heart for youth who are living the life I lived, because I get it!

The bad choices I made, sent me on a journey of finding something better. To accept that this was how life had to be wasn’t good enough because I hated the life I was living, so I went on a desperate search for a more fulfilling life and I met Jesus.

He taught me that true freedom is found only by submitting to him. He taught me that true freedom is found by letting go of people and their opinions. Freedom is found by cutting all ties that hold you back. It is found by focusing on Jesus, trusting him and following him wholeheartedly no matter how many people disagree.

True freedom is found by taking everything you ever learned, sifting it through the Bible and asking Jesus about it. Then keep everything that is truth, the rest of it?

Throw it out. 

You don’t need it, and it will only drag you down.

And that’s only a small portion of what I learned through the bad choices I made.

 If I actually had the chance to go back and relive my life.

Would I do it?

I definitely wouldn’t want to relive my bad choices because they honestly weren’t that great and they made my life rather miserable, 🙂 but if I could go back and choose differently…

Would I do it?

Would I actually give up everything I learned, just to have a flawless past?

I dont think I would.

My past played a part in who I became but it does not define me, I have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and it is Christ who defines me.

That is why I don’t live with regret.

When I took my past mistakes to the cross, Jesus took them and turned them from the ugly mess they were and turned them into something that can bring glory to him, he turned them into something that can benefit his kingdom.

Stop Looking Back.

This is the second reason I don’t regret my past. I refuse to look back. By the blood of Jesus Christ I’ve been washed clean, I’ve been redeemed, I am not the same person I used to be.

I gave him my past and now I look forward.

God took me through a phase where he took me back into my past over and over again. He showed me areas of hurt that hadn’t been dealt with, he showed me areas of unforgiveness. Basically he helped me houseclean my heart, and throw out all the junk that had piled up over time. He helped me forgive people who had hurt me.

Eventually though, he asked me to stop looking back and focus on moving forward.

He said:

“Trust me that your past has been dealt with, trust that I helped you clean it all up. From now on, move froward, don’t look back because we settled that.”

How can I regret my past choices if I’m focused on God and where he wants to take me?

I have often been amazed by Paul’s story. He went from killing christians to becoming one. He was radically changed, yet you don’t read much (if any) of him regretting his life before Christ. He simply changed direction and charged forward passionately just like he always had, his missions were completely different, but his passion stayed the same.

Did he not regret his past?

I imagine he did, but he didn’t get stuck on that, he didn’t let it define him, he simply followed Christ, starting right where he was.

What if you made good choices?

What if you lived a perfect life?

I will tell you right now that, for one…

• I don’t believe that.

Or two…

• You’re not human. 🙂

I’m pretty sure that at some time in your life you did something that you’re not proud of.

No matter how good you were at making good choices I still believe this blog applies to you in some way.

However, if you did make good choices most time, should you regret it because you didn’t get to learn from your mistakes?

Of course not!

God teaches each of us differently.

I have my story and you have yours.

Because of that, we can learn from each other, we can build each other up. We can move forward, confidently knowing that we are defined by Christ…

Not our pasts.