Do Over.

Do you ever wish for a do-over? A second opportunity to do things differently than you did the first time?

Well, I do. I have lots of things in my past that I'd love the chance to rectify. A chance to make the better choice or say something different. What I wouldn't give for an opportunity to re-do some things now that I have a little more maturity and some hindsight 20/20 under my belt. I wish I could fly back in time and do things over now that I see a little more clearly the ramifications of actions made in the heat of the moment.

Sigh.....

I know that in most situations a do-over just can't happen. Truthfully, I'm mourning for those lost moments. Wishing there was some way to set things right again myself.

But I can't. That's the whole point. I made the mistakes...but I can't fix them.

Ever heard that saying, "You've made your bed, now you're going to have to lay in it?"

That may be true on some level, but it's also not the whole picture. There's more to it than that. At least where God is concerned.

There's this thing we so rarely truly understand. It's called Grace. And not the human kind of Grace but the God kind. The capital "G" kind of GRACE.

I am keenly aware of God's Grace as I look back on so many lost opportunities, wrong choices, misspoken words. His abundant love and desire is to take our messes upon Himself and let us live on, free of the regret.

He takes the things we don't get right and makes them right. He rejuvenates, redeems, restores. He heals and He mends. He provides a way when there seems to be no way. It becomes more about Him and His abundant Grace than it is about us and our stupid mistakes.

I've reached a very sweet place - a place where I stand in awe not of my shortcomings but of His Grace. I'm amazed by His love that is so willing to forgive and restore in spite of my mistakes. A big part of me still longs for a chance to fix things on my own, but I recognize I simply don't get a do-over. Instead, I rely on the Grace of a God who loves me and has already shed enough holy blood to cover the most ridiculous and the most damaging mistakes I have made. I've reached a place of true peace. I finally understand it all - the cross, the resurrection, the life, the blood, the sacrifice, the forgiveness, the hope, the grace, the need, the freedom.

Don't let the regret and wishing swallow you whole. Change your focus and realize that God is always sovereign, that nothing you did or didn't do could throw Him off-balance. He doesn't waste anything. He's got it covered. We can either wallow in the bed we made for ourselves or get out of it, let Him make it fresh for us and lie down in peace again.