Comments on: Releasing Your Regrets

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:40:13 +0000

amen, you are right. transparency is so important! Thank you for setting an example. God bless you!

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:53:59 +0000

Dear anonymous, if I weren’t honest about my struggles, and share how the Lord has forgiven my sins and redeemed the errors of my past, I would be held hostage to an image of perfection that deceives others, as well as myself! If I can’t be truthful about my sin, then I negate the need of Christ’s redeeming work on the cross for me! I couldn’t experience His forgiveness, until I acknowledged my sin. And, dear sister, I am so blessed if He chooses to use my testimony to encourage and minister to my sisters, who face similar circumstances. His love flowing through us produces a longing for others to know the peace and joy that comes from being forgiven!

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:23:50 +0000

Marilyn, thanks for being so honest, it blesses others to know that we all have weaknesses, yet God can still meet us despite them (and look, He’s using you to help others). God bless. Please continue to keep me in prayer, sisters. Thank you & God bless!

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:11:42 +0000

Admit my guilt. Boy, was THAT an obstacle for me! During my 31 years of marriage, I spent half of it blaming my husband, either by my complaining to others about his behaviors towards me (slander), or by my attitude towards my role as his wife (returning evil for evil.) I was surely a *victim* of abuse. But, when the Lord saved me, and gave me a new heart and ‘renewed my mind’, He opened my eyes to the things that I was doing in our marriage that prompted relational conflict between my husband and me. How saddened and ashamed I felt, but God was quick to comfort and assure me of His forgiveness! As the Scriptures tell us, Satan prowls like a hungry lion, waiting to pounce on us whenever we have been lovingly convicted by the Holy Spirit. He takes that opportunity to shame us and to discourage us in our walk with Jesus. Often we need to experience those spiritual ‘growing pains’ that the Lord ordains for our benefit and to expose obstacles in our faithwalk. While it isn’t wrong to regret grieving God, we must not allow Satan to use it to hold us hostage!

By: kanj

kanj — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:22:30 +0000

Patti,
let me say thank you. this is one of the many reasons(this site) strength comes in numbers, through compassion, love and sharing. there is one heart out there that, by seeing your prose, has a new reflection on life.

By: Patti

Patti — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:19:21 +0000

Please let me add to the writing I just posted. In no way, am I suggesting these words to “Chlild of Mine” would be His words to us….for I believe His compassion and love for us, cannot be expressed in a way that we can even begin to understand. For me, whoever wrote this, helped me begin to understand as much as is possible, His understanding of our wounds, His unconditional and deep love for His children.

By: Patti

Patti — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:12:44 +0000

Thank you Dear Kanj……yes, we must let go and Let God. It took me years to do that. I found this several years ago….it tells such a truth ….. these words ministered to me deeply when I felt so alone. I have shared them on this site before, but want to share this again and pray it ministers to someone.

Dear Child of Mine

I look back on the years of your growing up, and my eyes can see all the times and situations in which you were hurt, whether intentionally or unintentionally. I can hear the wounding words and see the harmful deeds, and I know the scars you carry in your personality because of them. Sometimes the very people you looked to for love and affection were the ones who wounded you most. Sometimes they were members of your own family!

But hear me now, my child. Though they have wounded you, I will never wound you. Though they have let you down, I will never let you down. Though their words and deeds have harmed you, I speak to you words of hope and healing. I reach out to you with justice and kindness and love. I am constantly thinking of you, my child. You are always with me. I cannot forget you for one moment. See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Come now and let me heal the wounds of your childhood.

Your loving Abba,

God

By: kanj

kanj — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:17:09 +0000

Pastor Warren, thank you for the devotional. I’m quite familiar with what you call the ”if only” game although for me I knew it as the ‘what if(s)’ game. it was a game that I (sadly) became a perfectionist at. I second-guessed 2 decades of my life. let’s say the impact of early choices(early 20’s) produced those 2 decades. my choices moved me farther and farther away from God’s will. it took a trial of such magnitude to bring me to my knees. I believe now that God allowed me to make wrong choices because He knew that I was determined not to do His will. as to your points of 1, 2, and 3, i’ll answer: 1- I did, 2-of course I did and 3-towards the end I was almost unrecognizable to those who knew and (still) loved me.
today my life overflows with God’s abundance of love. one of the first things I had to do when I felt Jesus in my heart was to forgive myself for all the hurt and pain i put loved ones through. that’s a lot of forgiving, and it didn’t evolve overnight. God listens to all, whether that person is a mother, a politician, a convicted murder on death row, He listens when we cry out. the degree of our sin is inconsequential to God as He is a forgiving God. I am the most humble of humble and my gratitude is bigger than any mountain I know of because God saw that I was His child, a lost lamb. He called to me when I cried out and His mercy and grace shine through me today. i am truly blessed, and choices are still mine but my heart, my soul belong to Him.
wrapped around my heart is Isaiah 43:v. 1 which says;”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Patti. I so agree with you–Let go and Let God. from experience comes wisdom.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:08:52 +0000

ToniG, so good to see you back here again! :)Have missed your worshipful spirit, and am trusting that the Lord is at work in your life, guiding your steps according to His plans!
Patti, I praise God for His loving-kindness to you this past year in releasing you from your stronghold of unforgiveness, setting your spirit free to fulfill His purpose for you! What a rich blessing it has been to share in your joy of God’s grace in your life, to hear you testify to His mercy and faithfulness, and to know that His Spirit grants us the power to overcome the obstacles that Satan would scatter along our paths! Just as in the story of Joseph, where God used the evil that was perpetrated on him to set the stage for His redemptive purposes, He allowed the painful experiences of your past to shape your testimony, and bring Him glory! I join you, my friend, in praying for our sisters here who have been spiritually imprisoned by unforgiveness, for others as well as for themselves, that our Lord would grant them His grace to surrender their hurts to Him, and receive His healing! There is freedom in forgiveness, and our spiritual health depends on it!

Precious Lord, thank You for loving us so, and for giving us Your Spirit to be and to do what pleases You! In Jesus’ name, Amen!

By: toni

toni — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:30:07 +0000

Good Afternnoon,

IF, is where it began. The Lord gave all of us freedom of choice. Based, on the word (bible) and Jesus, from the beginning the word was with triune God od Israel, opened my eye’s. I wish I could go back and change things ….big time. My God of Israel wisdom works and his infinite love is eternal.

I wish not to pass judgement on people and their beliefs, as the Lord was mercifull when he told Hagar to go back. She was the mother of Ishmael, whom some believe, is the first son. This has lead to a worldwide division and war as we write. I ask the Lorrd to be merciful to all and to open their eyes to truth.

I try to witness but sometimes…water it down to the lukewarm, out of being ashamed that I am an Evangelical Christian. My job takes me around the world into cities born from Ishmael and the roots of His mother Hagar. Remaining, neutral to not argue God’s word instead of revealing truth or plant the seed of truth shames me. That does not please God.

Regrets, as Frank Sinatra sang in his infamous song, “MY WAY!” is what we all do.

This is such a great devotional for the upcoming year of the unknown. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Lord have mercy on all of us and may we rejoice with no regrets. In Jesus Name we pray…ToniG