Regrets
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
I find myself thinking more about my past life these days, than I do living my life for the future. I suppose with age, that is a normal transition. When I think about the past, I often feel sadness because my life has had so many disappointments … mostly caused by me. I have tried to become a person without excuses, not making myself a target for self-pity. But I have concluded that my life had little to no self-control. When we go back in time, what comes up are the regrets that surface over our lifetime. Regrets can be defined as the unforgiveness of the past, and that is always a negative memory. I wrote about regrets on Facebook, and I would like to share with you the thoughts of that post.
I suppose most of us have regrets. I know I do, and all of them are painful. One of the ways God brought healing to my life was to take those regrets and turn them into lessons of learning. God’s healing has a way to remove the sting of those regrets, and He used them to make me a better person. It took me so long as an adult to come to understand how I wasted my life. God took that regret and turned it into a lesson that reminded me that God is never finished healing our lives. Salvation is transformative, but so is the healing from regrets. Any regret is your unforgiveness of the past, and God is waiting to apply His forgiveness to all regrets. Remember, Jesus died for all sins, even the regrets. ~Larry Kutzler, Facebook Post
God’s healing has many facets to it … one being that He takes the ashes of mistakes, regrets, and sin, and creates beauty from them. My regrets have not been forgotten, but they are now lessons that have trained me to think and act differently. This is also true with anger, rejection, hatred, and betrayal, God redirects the emotional trauma and creates a way for healing to take place. It usually starts with forgiveness. Once we live in forgiveness, we find that nothing can attach itself that creates the emotional angst of regrets.
Healing of Regrets
I do think that forgiveness is the beginning of a new life … both past and present. I know people who are so angry with life … it usually is about what others have done to them that causes it. They live in excuses, and they blame others for the circumstances of their lives. The outcome of a person like this is misery … they are miserable people who will never let go of their pain. It’s almost like pain is the only emotion they know, so they maintain it to feel something. Forgiveness is the antidote for miserable people, but that seems out of the question for most of them. Regrets for people who live in the pain of excuses are hardwired to negative memories. They just live in the past to remind people of what was done to them. Healing is real, and is available for all people … if they are willing to live in forgiveness. Jesus taught us forgiveness when He went to the Cross, and it stands as a majestic sign … God heals, and He starts with forgiveness. That is where we must start as well. The healing of the mind, body, and soul come when we surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler