My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me

Since November of 2009, I have been volunteering at an autism social and self-advocacy group called Shoots Game Club. My best friend's mom heads up the program which meets once a month. This evening we actually did a service project for the Goshen Boys and Girls Club and what an awesome opportunity it was! But on the way home from Shoots Game Club tonight, one of the young adults really opened up about his life and the challenges he is facing right now. He expressed how much he blames himself for mistakes he's made in the past and he is overwhelmed by the speed at which his life seems to be flying by. He often wonders what kind of future he would have if he didn't have his mental challenges, and he wonders if he would be the man his dad would want him to be if his dad had made it home from Iraq in 2008. I encouraged him that we all make mistakes, and that he has many talents and gifts that he can use in his future. His future is what he makes it.
I think we all get caught up in the past every now and then. We begin to wonder what life would be like if this or that never happened, if we made this decision differently, if we hadn't allowed our sin nature to take over in this particular area, or how we could have handled a relationship better. And though this type of self-reflection is good on occasion, for such things produce wisdom and humility, it can also cause us to fall in the depths of despair and disappointment. The Apostle Paul could have very easily looked at his dreadful past, sighed in exasperation, threw up his hands, and said "I give up!" But in finding God's grace and love, he also discovered a new vitality to life, a new urge to get out there and do something. Not just mope about his mistakes and wrong choices. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he got up, took the challenge set before him, and he truly lived for Christ!! He allowed himself to be used of God, and through that ministry he not only changed his life but he changed the lives of all who knew him - past, present, and future! Here are some notes I took in a recent sermon on Paul's outlook in a negative world :
1. Look at the lost - where will they be in the future? As of now, they are groping in darkness; how can we get them to see the light of God's Word?
2. Look at your own lack of fitness - no one measures up.
3. Look at God's awesome provision - we are sufficient through Him.
4. Look at the glory of what God has called us to do.
5. Look at what that should do in our lives - this is characterized by availability to God to be used by Him.
Gives you a sense of perspective, doesn't it? For me, it was both convicting and uplifting. There's another song that reminds me of this truth "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me". And may those days be gloriously used by my Savior!