Samantha peered into the mirror one day and saw a woman looking back at her whom she did not even recognize. “Can this really be my life?” she asked herself. “This is not the way I thought things were going to turn out.” Her adult children had little interest in her life, her husband was not meeting her personal needs, and her career had not materialized into the success she so desperately wanted. “If only” kept running through her mind. If only I had attended a better college. If only I had married a different man. If only I had spent more time with my children. . .”
While your life may not be like Samantha’s, without a doubt every one of us can think of times in life when we’ve experienced regret and wished we could just do it all over again. Though the past cannot be changed, I’m telling you with great certainty that the future can. It can take a different course if you live intentionally. Living intentionally means having a plan, a course of action, that will help to chart out your days in such a way that you will learn to embrace and enjoy all the good that life has to offer. And then you can decide to make it happen. It can be a future that is absent of regret and lived to the fullest, embracing the small things in life with great joy, contentment and satisfaction, all the while honoring god and honoring people. You can live the life you were created to live.
This article addresses this very issue of backward thinking instead of forward living. We all can get so caught up in what we did or didn’t do that we forget to embrace and enjoy today. Not only that, but our regretful thinking can steal our tomorrows as well. Today is the best day you have; it is not yesterday because you can never change it, and not tomorrow because it may never come. No matter what stage of life you are in, how young or how old you are, what you have or have not accomplished thus far, you can begin today to live your life intentionally for Christ, and doing so will minimize regrets and maximize personal fulfillment. Release your yesterday, embrace your today, and confidently and intentionally decide to live your tomorrow with purpose and direction as you begin to build a legacy worth leaving behind.
What will be your spiritual legacy? Can God use you to further His kingdom? Will you impact the lost by the life you choose to live? Will you be an influencer of those around you? Will you invest in others and allow them to invest in you?
God’s plan is perfect. He can take the most messed-up situations, the greatest losses of our lives, the things we see as our greatest failures, and turn them into something beautiful.
Here are some keys to help you live intentionally:
- Get to know God intimately.
- Choose your friends wisely.
- Walk according to the Word, not according to cultural mores.
- Talk in a way that honors God and honors people.
- Love people in such a way that they crave what you have.
- Take a personal inventory of what you want the world to remember about you, work toward those goals and leave a spiritual legacy that will follow you into eternity.
May God fill your heart with abundant joy as you come along with me on this journey. May your days be bright and fulfilling as you choose to serve and honor God with your time, talent and resources. May your years be long and fruitful for His kingdom, His honor and His glory, and may you accomplish all that He has sent you here to do.
Prayer Power for the Week Beginning Aug. 20, 2017
This week, partner with the Holy Spirit so you can specifically pray His will concerning the everyday challenges we face in these unpredictable and turbulent times. Ask Him for Scriptures and prayer strategies to engage in spiritual warfare and meet the need. Unite with others of like mind and pray His will in one accord. Continue to pray for the nation and its allies. Pray for wisdom, guidance and wise counsel for those entrusted with making decisions that affect us and the entire world. Pray for worldwide revival and that it spread throughout our nation, heal the land and make us “one nation under God” again. Read: Jer. 9: 23-24; Jer. 29:11
Michael Snyder 
James Lasher 
Charisma Staff 
