I was looking through my past and remembering painful memories

They called me to self pity

Beckoned me to depression

Laughed in my face, my failures

I tried to close them out

Fighting them

But I felt the pull to fall into the trap...

Until my eyes settled onto a dusty, worn book

And I recalled the Truth

The Way to the light

That the life I've been given wasn't for dwelling on failures and regrets

So I closed the chapter I was reading and opened a new one

I picked up the worn book and dusted off the cover

And opened it to a random page

Just the right page, John chapter 17

And started anew

To follow Jesus' example

Beginning with a personal relationship

So I knelt on my knees

Asking for forgiveness, peace, strength...

And praising my Creator

Who gave me this life to live it to the fullest, to His glory

And I know now I'm not a failure

I'm not a regret to Him

He's right beside me, fighting with me

And He always wins

So I will carry on with my gaze forward

With my focus on the now, not the past

Keeping that book from getting dusty

And my mind on Phillipians 4:8