"No Regrets"

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead."

Philippians 3:13

Have you ever wanted a do-over in life?  Really regretted something you did or said?  Wish there was a life "delete" button?  I have and I am pretty sure some, if not all of you out there have too!  I cringe at some of the things that I have said and done.  Just being a wife and mother leaves you wide open for all kinds of mistakes...after all, we are only human!  Luckily for us as Christians, God already knows us better than we know ourselves...that we aren't perfect and that we are going to make mistakes (and I have made some humdingers!).

No, none of us have "arrived!"  We are all imperfect and going to make mistakes.  Biblically we are told not to dwell on them or live with regrets.  Regret by definition means "a feeling of disappointment or distress about something that one wishes could be different."  Yes, we all have stressed out over something we wish we could "take back" or hit the old "delete" button; but instead of regretting and dwelling on those things we are to forge ahead...striving to live each and every day according to God's will for our lives.

In Paul's message to the Philippians he was surely leading by example.  In verse 3:13 Paul spoke truly from the heart.  His life story is a true representation of this verse.  Paul was no longer Saul and the things he did in the past, stayed in the past...concentrating only on what lay ahead in his new walk with God.  His transformation was amazing and his story surely made an impact on the Philippians, just as it still does for us today.

While a life "delete" button would be pretty nifty; I know that it isn't my job to play God.  He is the only one in control and no matter what we do (even when we really, really, wish we had a delete button!!) we are to have no regrets.  We are transformed just as Paul was.  We are to learn from our mistakes and push forward to the future...the future that God has planned for us.  Our conduct is not regulated by others but by our Master, Lord and Savior and He alone is the reason we are to never look back; only forward.  We are to live our lives with no regrets.

Here is to living with no regrets and looking eagerly to what the future has in store for us!

Your friend in Christ,

Melissa Massey