Into the Fire

Many of you who visit here have few regrets. Some of you have had the pleasure and privilege of growing up with Jesus and have preserved and grown in your faith. You're to be commended for that. Not insulted or mocked or snickered at. Commended.

I spent 30 of my years in the world. I believed in God and prayer but didn't know Jesus personally. I briefly investigated Judaism, got into astrology for a season, acted badly for a while when I decided being "good" wasn't making me happy so perhaps being bad would. Honestly, it wasn't easy for me. I had to force myself to do things I knew were wrong, but without a Savior my moral meter was skewed.

Regrets accompany that attitude and many of the resulting actions. Lots of them. Once you surrender your life to Jesus, experience forgiveness for all that wasted time on activities that did nothing to build character and everything to cause pain to others and yourself, it's no easy task to get to the place where you can forgive yourself.

And although I regret my antics and behavior during a portion of my life, I am thankful that God has used those experiences in His perfect ways to minister to others who, upon learning of my Christianity, assume I have no idea of their struggles. The Lord has also allowed me to use my ungodly conduct as fodder for characters in my novels. Fiction done well takes a stark look at real life and leaves an impression. Whether or not I've accomplished that ideal in my novels is up to the individual reader's discretion.

Regret is humanity lived out. We begin in sin. We can choose redemption. We can be free of the condemnation of our sinful nature if we choose Jesus. For that choice, there is no regret.    

Thank you, Lord. It's never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.