Regret

It’s Christmas at Denny’s Tonight

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I dream of what my life might have been, if only…

Do you live with regret?  I could, if I allowed myself to.  I sometimes wonder what the church would look like if I had stayed on track and became the pastor I believed God had called me to be.  Would we, the people of the church be an Acts chapter 2 type of church?  Believing in, and walking out the power of the Holy Spirit.  Would we see souls saved daily?  What about signs and wonders?  If only.

But instead, I stopped holding on to, waiting for the promises of God, and I accepted the devil’s substitute for my life, because it was there, now, in the moment.  I just had to believe the lies he was telling me that it was okay.  Kind of like accepting the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, Satan tempts or attacks us where we are weak.

Life didn’t end there, for me, as I imagined it would.  I could have become a shell of a man.  I didn’t.  I received God’s forgiveness, asked that his Spirit not depart from me, and moved on.  That is what one should do when things don’t work out the way we think they should.

I read a post on Facebook the other day.  A young woman just had a child in the hospital, but after returning home her and her husband came down with Covid.  The baby was fine, but had to be separated from his new mother.  The baby’s father had to return to the hospital, this time in the intensive care unit.  The young mother wrote something along the lines of, “We dreamed of hiking in the mountains with a tour guide.  But now we are hiking through this with the Lord as our guide.”

Life is not going the way they dreamed, but her focus remains on target.  On the Lord.

That is the only way to deal with potential regret.  Give it to him, and continue to seek him for guidance, for his leading.  He knows the way.  Life may feel like Christmas at Denny’s, but it doesn’t have to.  It comes down to your perspective.  Your view of life.  Is your current situation a set back?  A delay?  A roadblock, or simply a detour?  No matter what it is, God can speak into your spirit and say, “Recalculating.”  God knows the way.  He will get you through the storm and to the other side.

Trust in the Lord completely,
    and do not rely on your own opinions.
    With all your heart rely on him to guide you,
    and he will lead you in every decision you make.
Become intimate with him in whatever you do,
    and he will lead you wherever you go Prov. 3:5-6 (TPT)

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

Regret?

/ Mark Brady / 2 Comments

turn-back

(Photo by Cathy Wang)

“Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.”  We’ve all heard the phrase before.  I feel that phrase mostly applies to relationships.  Today I was thinking about some of the closer ones I have had over the years.  I know, and understand it takes two to get it right, but the one thing I have regretted over and over is when my response to the other person was less than perfect.

That lack of responding in the right, or best way has caused a lot of hurt, pain, and disappointment in some of these relationships.  The moment I realize I have wounded the other person is when regret starts to set in.

In some cases there has been a huge price to pay for not responding correctly.  Being very open and honest it would be easier if the other person passed on, but when they don’t you are forced to deal with the reality they don’t want to speak, or see you again, ever!  This is what can happen when one chooses not to forgive you.  We shouldn’t let regrets weigh us down, but rather learn from them and hope the next time we respond better.

I am so glad Jesus forgives us when our responses are less than perfect.  To me, “hell” would be the reality that God turned His back on me, and never wanted to see, or hear from me again, ever!

Copyright © 2016 Mark Brady, All rights reserved