So much wasted
When we take the time to stop and
honestly examine our lives;
we begin to realize how much of them
has been wasted seeking the approval
of other people.
So much of our pain comes from the
choices we make and the
consequences that follow.
For years, I searched for someone to tell
me I was enough and that my life had
meaning. I wanted other people to
define my reality for me because I didn't
know how to do this myself. As I sought
people’s approval, it led to nothing but
disappointment and hurt—not because
people were mean, but because we
must not seek our worth in others.
Looking back now, one of my biggest
regrets is realizing there are no “redos”
in this life. We cannot reclaim yesterday.
We cannot relive the years we have
already spent.
But there is hope.
As long as there is life, there is hope.
There is still an opportunity to finish the
race in a far better condition than when
we began. (That’s up to us in how we
respond.) I truly believe God can
redeem wasted years. I have seen Him
do it in my own life.
My search for approval became a dark
prison.
Every opinion became my mirror.
Every rejection became my identity.
It led me to living a very isolated and
fearful life that was filled with
hopelessness until I eventually shut
down so completely that one day I
nearly took my own life.
But by the grace of God, I survived.
Years before that dark day, when I was
fourteen years old, something happened
that I didn’t fully understand at the time.
My family had arrived late to church. As
we were finding our seats, I heard the
pastor say one sentence that stopped
me in my tracks:
“God loves you unconditionally.”
I remember turning toward him in
disbelief.
“What?”
“I don’t have to be perfect to earn His
love?”
“I don’t have to become someone I’m
not before He loves me?”
It sounded too good to be true.
I left that service not realizing those few
words would remain with me for
decades.
Thirty-two years later, cancer entered
my life.
Everything changed.
For the first time in my life, I was
confronted with the possibility of dying.
Everything I once believed was so
important suddenly became insignificant
compared to the possibility of losing the
life I had taken for granted.
Cancer forced me to confront questions
I had avoided for years. It exposed the
deeper reasons my life had taken the
direction it had. It taught me that life is
far more valuable than wanting to be
liked and accepted by others.
Most importantly, it brought me back to
the same truth I first heard as a
fourteen-year-old girl.
My worth was never meant to come
from people or from my circumstances.
It was always meant to come from
God—the One who created me.
That realization changed everything.
I finally began to understand why
Scripture describes wisdom as crying
aloud in the streets.
Every day we stand before a choice.
We can either continue following our
own desires and trusting our own
understanding, or we can humble
ourselves and listen to the voice that
leads to life.
Wisdom produces discipline.
Self-will produces regret.
We have complete freedom to choose.
But we do not have the freedom to
choose the consequences that follow
our choices.
Every decision moves us toward either
life or death.
Every day we are given is another
opportunity to choose wisely—to turn
from darkness and walk in the light.
Looking back over forty-seven years, I
have learned that discipline always
demands a price, but it produces lifelong
rewards.
Regret also demands a price. The
difference is that we often don't realize
how costly it is until the consequences
have already arrived.
Today, I choose the discipline that
produces character instead of the
comfort that slowly destroys it.
If there is one thing I hope you take
away from my story, it is this:
We cannot rewrite yesterday, and we
are not promised tomorrow, but today is
still in our hands.
Do not waste the life God has given you
by trying to find acceptance in people.
Instead, discover who you are in the
eyes of the One who made you.