How to overcome guilt and shame from personal failure and do better next time by living in the grace of God and the Word of God. How to correct mistakes and how to overcome the difficult portions of one's past.

3. The Initial Process –Psalms 32 & 51
• Acknowledge – Don’t Deny, Excuse Or Rationalize
• Confess – Your Sin / Your Responsibility to God & Man
• Turn Around – Correct Your Path / Actions / Attitude
• Supplication – Pray The Consequences Are Minimal
• Acceptance - Of What Comes From God’s Hand

4. Restitution – Fixing The
Mistake
• If you can fix the mistake, then do so.
• Pay back debts
• Ask forgiveness
• Pay for broken items
• Sell the car that you cannot afford
• Do not believe the “sunk cost fallacy”
• Apologize publicly for public mistakes
• Have honorable responses
• Isaiah 32:8 But the noble man devises noble plans; And
by noble plans he stands.

5. The Provision
• The provision for ALL of your mistakes is
in the Cross – the Blood cleanses us.
• Christ pays the price
• Christ makes up for what you CANNOT
restore / bring back / correct / fix / make
good
• Christ has things in Eternity that
compensate for things on earth (Luke
16, the beggar full of sores)
• This world is a sandbox that one day
gets erased. Your mistake does NOT last
for all of eternity.

6. What God Can Do For You
• Restoration – Prodigal Son
• Forgiveness – Thief On The Cross
• Redeemed Out of Spiritual Darkness – Ephesians
• Redeemed Out of Sinful Lifestyles - Corinthians
• Still Believes in You – Peter After the Resurrection
• Calling and Appointing – Saul / Paul
• Giving You A Second Chance – Onesimus
• Put Back On Track – John-Mark

7. The Perspective
• You are not defined forever by your mistakes
unless you fail to acknowledge them & repent
• You are not a victim of your stupidity, be
honest, you actually made the mistake.
• You are human and life is difficult to get right
• You were younger then and you have learned
• God has forgiven you, if you have truly
repented
• You are not the Judge (even of yourself)
• You can change and improve, even now
• The way others reacted to your failure is their
business!

8. Coping With Regret
• Leave the burden of regret with God, at the Cross
• Weep, mourn, be sad for a while, then get over it.
• Make restitution if at all possible
• Talk it over with a pastor or professional counselor in total
confidentiality. It may take time.
• Learn all you can from your mistakes
• Keep quiet and move on

9. Use Biblical Metaphors
• Create a strong mental picture of your sins and mistakes
being dealt with by God and being:
• Nailed to the Cross (Colossians 2:13)
• Erased from a ledger like a forgiven debt (Matthew 6:12)
• Washed away (Psalm 51:2)
• Taken away, removed (Psalm 103:12, John 1:29, 1 John 3:5)
• Put in the deepest ocean (Micah 7:18,19)
• Put behind God’s back (Isaiah 38:17)
• Covered (Psalm 85:2)
• Purged by a hot coal (Isaiah 6:7)

10. Codependency
• When your mistake was enabling someone else’s
mistakes to the extent that your own life was hurt.
• Codependent relationships are a type of
dysfunctional helping relationship where one
person supports or enables another person's
addiction, poor mental health, immaturity,
irresponsibility, or under-achievement.
• You need to a) stop “sacrificing”
b) set up healthy boundaries and
c) get help.

11. The Holy Spirit & The Word
• Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20)
• Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18)
• Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you
(Colossians 3:16)

12. Redeeming the Time
1. Good Choices
2. Good Boundaries
3. Good Habits
4. Good Words
5. Good Attitudes