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Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:14

I enjoy the service God has called me into. I sing with my family, speak to women and girls across the world, teach the Word of God, share my testimony, and listen to and encourage my two favorite preachers in the world, my husband Dan and my son Labron. I see souls saved and lives changed for the glory of God.

In the realm of all of this, I also get to hear heart wrenching stories of mistakes and bad choices people have made in life and how they wish they could go back and change these things. However, no one can go back in time and start all over. We must live from this moment forward thanking God for His mercy upon our lives and magnify Him in all that we do.

As I listen to those heart wrenching stories, I am reminded of my own mistakes and bad choices. Nevertheless, I hear God say, “Press toward the mark, do not turn back.” I find myself telling others to go forward and allow the choices and mistakes they have made to be lessons that will produce a testimony of God’s love and mercy.

Some share lifestyle choices that have caused them terminal illness, mistakes that have cost them their marriage and everything they ever owned, family bonds have been severed, and children have been taken from parents due to the parents’ uncontrolled tempers, addictions and fatal habits. They are excited to tell me that God has saved them and brought them out of their sin and restored their lives. However, their stories make them feel ashamed and less than others. They often hang their heads as they are sharing with me. Nine out of every ten people who share with me will say, “I wish I could make my wrongs right.” I am so anxious to get tell them they did make things right when they received Christ as their Savior. It didn’t change their past, but it gave them hope for their future. I tell them to live from this moment forward seeking God for guidance and instruction, and I encourage them to make the best of their past by leaving it at the cross. Their past can never be changed but their present and future can out shine any wrong they have ever done.

Paul said in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He also made bad choices and mistakes. On the road to Damascus Paul had an encounter with God that would change Him forever, save him eternally, and cause him great suffering and persecution. This man of great wealth, prestige and authority lost everything he possessed to be what God appointed him to be.

Paul suffered many things from the hands of his own people. He was a persecutor of Christians when Jesus entered his life. His faith in God made him an outcast to his family and peers. He carried a thorn in his flesh that was greater than any of us can imagine. When Paul asked God to remove it, God simply replied, “My grace is sufficient.”

From my heart to yours, I pray that you will release yourself from the shame and bondage of bad choices. Stop trying to change your past and press forward for Christ. Make your past a testimony of what God can do in a person’s life. In spite of the fact that there are consequences and effects to sin, there are also victories and joy to share. Someone else is right where you once were. They need to know that God can change them just as He changed you. Press forward with your head held high and your heart focused on Jesus. 

I Just Love Jesus,

Dr. Brenda J. Robinson

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• Posted by: Dr. Brenda Robinson