Living the No Regrets Lifestyle

I’ve been enjoying the new TV show “Timeless.” It deals with time travel back to certain dates to try to change the present by changing something in the past. Although that’s something we aren’t readily able to do, it does make for a fascinating fantasy about how your life would be different today if you had taken a different path in the past.

The truth is, where you are today is the result of millions of little daily choices and decisions that led to connections, opportunities, events and reactions that make up the fabric of life. Your reactions to each one and the assumptions, beliefs and take-aways you keep from them help mold your character, and also determine your destiny. Your attitudes and beliefs all affect what decisions you will make today and tomorrow about your life.

I’m sure, like me, there have been times when you dreamed about what it would be like if you could go back to some point in time and re-do it, to change it in some way and make it different. Maybe you would buy that Coca-Cola or Microsoft stock! Or maybe you wouldn’t have started dating that man who eventually married you and left you. Or a number of other life-changing paths that could have been different…

Oh, all the maybe’s! Hindsight gives us tremendous perspective, doesn’t it?!

Actually, I thank God I don’t HAVE to go back to the past! I’m happy it’s over and done with. But sometimes there are lingering regrets that can keep you stuck in some area of your life. Maybe today is the day to let them go, as you realize there’s nothing you can do to go back and change anything. What’s done is done.

What if, instead of thinking of these mistakes as failures, you treasured these as lessons and blessings to help carve out a brighter future for yourself? What if you did something radical, like thanked God for these “goof-ups” (that he, by the way, was not shocked or surprised by at all!), and accepted that his plan for your life is not over and undone? No, the good news is that there is no “perfect plan” that you have ruined, and now have to live his “second-best plan” for your life! I used to think that and lived with terrible, heavy regrets about my mistakes.

Amazing as it is, he is actually using all these twists and turns in the road to help you get to a better place in your life. Along every turn there are opportunities to see more of God revealed in your life. He can bring good and blessings and abundance out of even the most rugged and disappointing path you have traveled in the past.

Have you heard peoples’ stories or testimonies about how their mess became their message? Most of them share that their pain became a big part of their life’s mission to reach and help people going through similar circumstances.

What is God’s purpose for your past? Even the most shameful and painful areas? There are hidden blessings there waiting to be released for you – and others whose lives you will touch deeply.

When you give every part of your life to him, he can truly bring “beauty from ashes” and great joy and comfort from your sorrow. You can be such a blessing to others, even as you are receiving his love and blessings for yourself.

If you accept the past regrets as history – and even part of HIS-story unfolding in you, you can release them and let them go. Then your mind and emotions will be free and clear to get a good look at where you are now and where you really do want to go. You CAN impact today and tomorrow with your choices right now. That is all the power you have!

Decide right now that you will forgive others, forgive yourself (mostly!), and give it all as an offering to God to see what good things he can bring out of it all!

Choose to live in the NO REGRETS Zone today and every day. Quickly forgive yourself and trust that even in everyday lapses of judgment or common sense, that God will work it all out for your good – and for his glory. What more could you ask?

You are free to live, love, laugh, dance and rejoice! So let’s get on with it, my friend!

If you liked this, but would like more perspective on this topic, you might enjoy reading the post Living Life Backward and Staying Out of the Guilt, Shame, Judgment, and Condemnation Zone