“I wish I hadn’t done that…”
My youngest child Casey broke his pinky toe on Friday. He was at gymnastics camp, and I later heard that he’d tried to do a front flip on the tumbling ramp … without the help of a coach. He is not a gymnast, but he is a daredevil. Casey landed wrong, and his pinky toe snapped in two. Ouch! Here is the x-ray to prove it! (Note the little toe leaning to the side …)
When I picked him up from camp Casey clung to me. “I wish I hadn’t done that,” he complained. “What about summer?”
Summer is filled with camps, trips and fun. And now he’s wearing a boot as he hobbles along. Casey now knows he should have worked with his coach before he attempted a front flip. It’s a lesson learned, but he’ll still be limping for a while.
The truth is, the “I Wish I Hadn’t Done that Club” is one we all join one time or another.
I Wish I Hadn’t Done that Club = REGRETS.
I have BIG regrets, like choosing to have an abortion when I was 15-years-old–something I’d take back in a heartbeat.
I have small regrets, like wishing I’d stuck with that exercise plan I’d started. (I guess I can start again, right?)
With small regrets we can often get up, brush ourselves off and keep going. We may hobble around a little, but healing–and getting back on the right track again–is relatively easy.
Yet, it’s the bigger regrets that can imprison us. For many years I felt locked within a cage, shackled with my own painful secrets. Yet I soon discovered that faith was the key.
Faith to believe God forgave me for even my deepest sins.
Faith to tell my shameful story and trust that others could still love me.
Faith to know that God could use my story to bring freedom to others, too. Freedom from regret. Freedom from self-loathing. Freedom from hiding and the feeling that God could never forgive them or use them.
Are you stuck? Remember:
Faith to believe God = forgiveness, trust and freedom (for ourselves and others)
Faith to share our story = being unshackled from regret, self-loathing, and hiding
The thing about being in the “I Wish I Hadn’t Done that Club” is that everyone on earth is a member.
But today God wants you to know that it’s okay to hobble along as you heal, but don’t stay broken. Turn to Him. He has a plan and a path for you.
… and don’t attempt to try a front flip alone!
Tricia
P.S. Want to hear more about how God healed me and called me? My book Walk It Out is only .99 on Kindle today!
You can purchase a copy HERE.
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