Susan Narjala
Keeping it Real
When Regret Comes Knocking
Maybe it’s the three giant chocolate chip cookies you devoured at 10 pm.
Maybe it’s the fact that you scrolled through social media yesterday like you were training for an Olympic sport.
Maybe it’s that you sold your home when the market was down, and now it’s worth twice as much.
Maybe it’s the careless words you spoke to a friend.
Maybe it’s the feeling that you weren’t present enough when your kids were little.
Regret.
That little word can pull us into a spiral of shame, anxiety, and second-guessing. Even relatively smaller mistakes can take on a life of their own and live rent-free in our minds for months on end. The phrase “I should have…” rattles in our minds like noisy wind chimes. We sink into the quagmire of thinking, There’s nothing I can do to fix this.
Friend, here’s the hard truth: there are some things in the past you simply cannot undo. (Ouch. I know)
You can’t magically transport yourself back to when your kids were little, and recreate family traditions that you may have missed. You can’t unsell your house. You can’t uneat those cookies.
But when you realize you cannot fix the past, you are faced with a choice: Will you live in the trap of regret, or will you bring your failures to God in repentance?
Because regret, by itself, is debilitating. The enemy loves to use it to accuse us, shame us, and keep us stuck in fear and anxiety.
The world simply tells us to “move on,” “let it go,” and advises us with, “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” But Scripture offers us something far better. God invites us to bring our regrets to Him.
Regret looks backward and stays stuck there. Repentance turns toward God and finds freedom.
When we humble ourselves before Him, He restores our souls. He may even give us opportunities to repair relationships that have been damaged.
God may not rewrite the past the way we wish He would. But He is able to redeem it.
The apostle Peter knew this firsthand. After denying Jesus three times, Peter was overwhelmed with grief and regret. Scripture reminds us that he “wept bitterly.” It wasn’t just regret or remorse. Peter repented before God. In John 21, we see Jesus gently restore him — not only forgiving him, but commissioning him for ministry.
As my own children move into their later teen years, I’ve found myself asking the same questions many mothers ask:
Did I do enough?
I think about all the things I “should have” or “could have” done differently — more family traditions, more extracurricular activities, healthier meals, more meaningful conversations.
I cannot go back and redo those years.
But I can entrust them to a God who redeems.
Regret may knock insistently at your door — and mine.
But we do not have to invite it in.
Instead, we can answer that knock with repentance, trust, and the confidence that God is still working all things together for His glory and our good.
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MEET SUSAN
Comments
8 Comments
tim noonan
Susan,
Your devotional on regret was SO spot on it felt as if it was written just for me. I shared it with our son and know it will bless him as well.
Thank you so much for doing what God has placed on your heart…….sharing His word, love and wisdom.
Susan Narjala
Amen. Praise God for His loving counsel. I pray your son would experience His healing too. Thank you for the encouragement, Tim. Blessings, Susan
Ari Duskin
This is exactly what I needed to hear this morning. God has used you to remind me that as a mom we may never feel like we live up to our full potential. But God is so good!! Thank you for this gentile reminder to turn to him throughout these seasons.
Susan Narjala
So good. Thank you for sharing, Ari. May God continue to lavish His love on you so that in seasons where you feel “not enough,” you will see that He is always sufficient. God bless.
Bill Baca
Great timing, and timeless. Regret vs. Guilt have been weighing on my heart in recent months (more likely years) – nagging and reminding relentlessly. Are these idols, I have come to ask with regularity, attempting to find a way to move on from the nagging. And I was reminded of a recently concluded study in the OT and how, while Esther was in a harem AND married to Xerxes, God used her to save her people, in spite of her past. Like your reference to Peter in John 21, God does not define us by our past sin, rather He grants us, no moves us powerfully onward, to our ministry (whatever that may be). Thank you Susan, your ministry is a salve that both sooths and nourishes, as you always point to the Word.
Susan Narjala
Amen. So true, Bill. God doesn’t hold our past against us, nor does He limit us in our work for Him because of old failures. He is so good. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and also for the encouragement. Blessings.
Marsha Ocker
Oh, Susan, thank you for this reminder. JUST what my heart needed today.
God’s blessings on you, dear friend.
~Marsha
Susan Narjala
Amen. So thankful, Marsha.. Thank you for writing and letting me know. Blessings, Susan