“Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God. Put away evil and wrong from your home. Then face the world again, firm and courageous. Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more. Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon, and life’s darkest hours will shine like the dawn. You will live secure and full of hope.” Job 11:13-18

I am discovering the difficulty of living free of bitterness and/or regret… But I am attempting to put those things behind me so that I can live life at peace with those who matter most in my life. I have begun to trust that God is actively working on my behalf, even in what appears to be the worst of circumstances. This is a matter of faith, choosing to believe God is at work.

With God working in my life and faith:

I can accept the past. No sin, no action, no choice on my part is too big for God to handle or too big to be worked for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

I can choose to embrace the present. There’s no need to play the “what if” game. The past is forgiven and gone, and the future is in God’s omnipotent hands; I can be free to focus on the present and loving and living in the moment. Jim Elliot once wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there.” When we are present in the present, that’s where grace and peace will flow.

I can look expectantly toward the future. Even with the mistakes I have made today, God is still in control of the future. By taking each step and listening for the next, I can live life to the fullest, without fear of making mistakes or stumbling into some terrible circumstance that takes me spinning out of control. Even when things appear to be terrible, I can trust that there is a divine plan in progress in my life.

“We pray that you will be filled with his mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens — always full of the joy of the Lord” Colossians 1:11