I’m at the age where many of life’s major decisions have been ironed out, neatly folded, and tucked away in a drawer. Not all of them, of course. But some of the most significant and confusing decisions are done and dusted: Which colleges should I apply to? What career should I choose? Should I take this job or wait for a better opportunity? Should I move to another city? And the biggie: Who should I marry?

I made that last decision some twenty years ago. And that’s one choice I have zero ‘buyer’s remorse’ about. I’ve never felt the need to stick a return label on my dear husband!

While I’m, of course, being cheeky with that example, when I look back on my life, I can say I’ve made plenty of less-than-perfect decisions. Just because I may have paused and prayed, doesn’t mean that drawer of decisions doesn’t contain some regrets. I wasn’t always protected from heartache, challenges, fear, or doubt.

Often, I look back and think, ouch, I should have made a wiser choice back then. Why didn’t I pursue my career goals when I was single? Why did I waste this or that opportunity? Should we have moved? Why did we sell our house when the market was down? Why did we enroll our kids in that school and not this one?

Your less-than-spectacular decisions may look different from mine. But here’s what I know: We serve a God who redeems our mistakes.

He doesn’t expect us to get every decision perfectly right all the time. If we did, we would be way less dependent on Him. We would never learn to surrender our need to control our circumstances. We would never learn to trust God through uncertainties.

God isn’t looking for perfection—He’s looking for surrendered hearts. He seeks obedience, not impeccable track records.

Romans 8:28, one of the most quoted verses of our time, reminds us that God works all things out for the good of those who love Him and who have been called by Him. No, this promise doesn’t give us the license to experiment with poor choices. But it does free us from the spiral of regretful ‘I-should-haves’ and ‘I-could-haves’.

Friend, I don’t have a formula to help us take the ‘best’ path forward. In my experience, it comes down to abiding in Christ so closely that, in the security and intimacy of that relationship, we learn to grow in wisdom and discernment. It’s sometimes as simple as asking: Will this choice pull me away from Jesus or draw me closer to Him?

When we live by Biblical principles, our decisions either hit the bullseye—or they don’t. And when they don’t, His grace covers our frailties.

Are there past mistakes for which we need to repent? Absolutely. Sin starts with a choice. When Abraham made the poor choice to lie about Sarah being his sister, he needed to return to the Lord. When David made the disastrous decision to sleep with another man’s wife, he needed to fall on his knees before God—and face the consequences. In the New Testament, when Peter denied Jesus three times, he wept bitterly in brokenness. We don’t simply sweep old sins under the ‘God will redeem everything’ carpet.

Through repentance, we can move past our regrets. We can forget the path behind us and press on toward the goal for which God has called us.

If you live by godly convictions but still ruminate in regret about the past or are paralyzed by perfectionism about the future, know that God works even through our weakness. He is not derailed by our detours and distractions. He is still sovereign. He is still on the throne.  He is still able to work all things out for our good and His glory.

When it comes to moving forward, none of us wants to make wrong turns.

But endlessly trying to make perfect decisions can freeze us. Only radically trusting a perfect God frees us to make choices that honor Him.

 

 

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