Do you need a Do-over?

Ever have one of those moments when you just feel like you need to start over. Sometimes it feels like everything is falling apart, or you've made a mess out of a situation, or maybe even your whole life and you feel like a do over is necessary.

One of the reasons I love God is that with Him do-overs are entirely possible. God is the one person who will forget your past mistakes and never bring them back to haunt you. He will never ever bring those things up again.

A do-over is not a bad thing. Whilst I don't recommend hitting restart every two weeks, I find it commendable that one can look back at their life and see what's wrong with it and make changes. That's what Christianity is all about, constantly making changes to the places in our lives where we fell short at one point or another. Sometimes, it's just necessary to stop for a moment, assess where you're going and change direction.

I've been a Christian for about 15 years and at this point in my life when I look back, I'm not satisfied with certain things. I guess one of the pitfalls of becoming a Christian at an early age is that you tend to start off with the mentality that "I can make changes to my life later, I've still got time." That kind of thinking tends to follow you as you grow older and procrastination becomes a nasty habit. Before you know it, many years have passed and you're standing a few steps behind a point where you were before. One thing I've learned is that in the Christian life, if you're not moving forward, you'll be moving back. There's no such thing as standing in one place with Christianity because the minute you become lukewarm, the enemy moves in to try to reclaim you.

So I've started my do-over, and as I go along, God is showing me things that I either need to change or simply get rid of. He's also showing things that I can do much better. The process is painful but the amazing thing about God is that He has shown me the finish line even though I'm nowhere near it. I know that the end product MUST be great because the creator of heaven and earth is the one working on me. And have you seen earth? Earth is a masterpiece, so can you imagine what I'll look like when he's done? Wow!

So my encouragement to you today is this: Don't be afraid to stop and access your life. Don't be afraid to hit restart if necessary. And most definitely, don't be afraid to let God work on you, He's pretty good at it.

Be Blessed!

Joana James - Author of From Redemption to Maturity,   Nightmare at Emerald High & Alana and Alyssa's Secret & Finding Romeo