IF I COULD GO BACK...

One night last week I was tired, but it was still too early to go to sleep, so I decided to look for a movie to entertain myself for a while and a title caught my attention, A marriage made in heaven, it is about a host of a television program who is frustrated because he feels lonely,  his spouse, tired of him never having time for her, had abandoned him and married an old schoolmate.

Suddenly an angel appears who offers him the opportunity to go back and relive a week of his life, whatever he wants, to do everything in a different way. He chooses just the week in which his spouse had reunited with that friend, to organize the school class meeting.

When the protagonist relives that week of his life, hand in hand with his guardian angel, he realizes that he could do things differently and prioritizes his spouse and children that he loves so much, instead of his work. At the end of the week, fearing that he was going to return to reality and loneliness, he realizes that having acted in a different way, he had won back his spouse and she had stayed by his side.

That story made me reflect and ask myself,

if I had the opportunity to relive a week of my life,

what would it be and what would I do differently?

And I thought it would be the week that I got carried away with my feelings and committed an infidelity that led to the divorce of my first marriage. What I would have done differently would have been to seek help by turning to my leaders or my best friends. But unfortunately, at the time I didn't have the courage to do so and my life took a turn of guilt, shame and pain, not only for me, but for everyone around me.

Thank God, we have a heavenly Father who forgives us and promises that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.[1] And not only does he forgive us, but it also frees us from guilt and shame.[2]

Guilt is one of the most toxic emotions we can harbor inside, it poisons our soul and sickens our body without us even realizing it, but in Jesus we can find liberation and restoration of our whole being. Moreover, the Word of God encourages us not to bring to mind the things of the past, because He in His mercy will do new things in our lives[3] and also, because He erases our rebellions and never remembers them again[4]. So, we must reflect on what happened to learn the lesson, not make the same mistakes again and with God's help, move forward towards the wonderful future that He has prepared for us.[5]

In real life, we don't have the opportunity to go back, but we do have the gift of the present, so think and reflect:

What will you do differently this week and then look back and have nothing to regret?

With much love, Claudia

[1] 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

[2] Colossians 1:22 NLT Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence.

[3] Isaiah 43:18-19 God spoke to His people through the prophet Isaiah saying: “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, And rivers in the desert.

[4] Isaiah 43:25 "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

[5] Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.