Rapturing Regret

Everyone has regrets. It could be something as small as wishing you said hello to the stranger you felt compelled to say hello to, but didn't. Something as meaningless as choosing the wrong movie or choosing the wrong phone case. Something where at the moment you stand faced with a choice and you choose the item that you reasoned was best and when you finish the movie or whatever you chose you wonder if that was really the best choice.
Then other times it's something a little larger. What if you had turned on a different street that day? What if you had chosen not to go on that walk? What if you hadn't craved that white mocha coffee? These regrets are what we could call the "what if regrets."
Lastly, we have our large regrets. For me it's wishing I would have continued ballet, I hate myself for being so stubborn. My Mom pushed and prodded but nothing could get me to go back to my beloved ballet classes. My Mom's big regret is not continuing piano when she was younger. For my Dad it is the fact that he quit making a habit of working out in college. These regrets tend to be the ones that plague us for the rest of our lives.
As I stated earlier, everyone has some sort of regret, big or small.
Here is my kicker, if we followed every poke and prod of God's would we have any regrets at all? Whether you have formed an opinion or not, hear me out, please.
God is a sovereign God, He is an all knowing God. In Jeremiah chapter one verse five He says:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations"
God knows exactly what we will do in the next five minutes, He leaves the choice up to us but He knows what our choice is going to be. He knows what kind of impact we will make upon this world, big or small. He is using us all, whether we touch only a couple of peoples lives or millions of people. He has His plans.
So, if He knows all, if He is omnipotent, why don't we turn to Him in our choices? I have often been compelled to smile at a person, say hello, start a conversation, sit by a stranger, and so much more. I feel nudges from God to do simple things that could make a huge difference in a persons life. Sometimes I obey God's request and other times I think about everything that could happen and I talk myself out of it. Ironically enough, every time I don't follow the little urges I'm filled with regret, but when I do commit the little act I am filled with a feeling of great happiness because most of the time the person is relieved by me doing whatever it is I did. God obviously knows what needs to be done, why must we have a hard time trusting that God knows what He is doing?
Same has to go with large decisions. My Dad has very recently taken on a new job. This a big milestone in his life. You can bet that this decision was made with countless hours in prayer and also listening to what the Lord wanted us to do. Big decisions are always what people think about when they pray about being lead by God. But it's our every step that needs to be guided by Him.
If we lived with our hearts and our lives totally devoted and dedicated to God and followed His every urge I think we would live without regret. Of course, we are sinners, we will always let Satan work his way into our minds and convince us that we are too timid to ever step out and do God's will. God knows all so, why not give our all for Him? No matter what.
It takes 30 days for a habit to be ingrained into a persons mind so, for the next 30 days every time you feel led to step out of your box, go for it. Live your life God's way and live without a worming regret! You will mess up, accept that! We are sinners, we are fallen people, we are imperfect. That is why we have Jesus. God knows we mess up, it breaks His heart, but He forgives.
So, make a habit of stepping out of your box! Have a never ending conversation with Him, He will lead you the way He wants you to go!
Live life without regret, live life God's way!
Abbie