Evicting Regrets

I was a student at a Christian High School driving home one day with friends.  There were two car loads of us driving down a street in our city. Our windows were down and we were driving side by side kind of racing and doing stupid teenager stuff.  In a moment of "trash talk" I talked trash and let the F-bomb fly, loudly, out of my mouth. The shocked and stunned looks and silence greeted that moment and sobered me up pretty quickly. I can still remember my ears on fire from shame and my mouth feeling like it had been coated with some nasty chemical.  That was about 25 years ago and yet I can remember the regret and shame of it to this very second.   

I was still a student at a Christian High School and my boyfriend and I got too comfortable with one another. One night we were parked behind a deserted building, making out and taking things way too far. In a moment of teenage lust I asked him to take us way too far and in a moment of God's saving grace we were caught by a security guard that was on the premises.  He interrupted what would have turned into an even bigger regret. That was about 24 years ago and yet I can remember the regret and shame of one, having allowed lust to take over my standards and two, being caught in such a intimate position. To this day when I drive by that building I have to battle the shame that wells up in my soul. 

I was on staff at a local church and struggling with my emotional and mental baggage.  Unfortunately the man I was assisting took advantage of my struggles, which he knew about, and used them to his benefit when our working relationship was called into question.  (In case anyone wonders about my response to that questioning...EW.  Enough said.)  Without my knowledge, a list was written up and presented to other staff members for review and to hear his side of the supposed story before I was set in a chair and accused of multiple lies. (There is SO much wrong with this story right?)  I sat in that chair and read over a list of ways in which I was unacceptable and unworthy to be in ministry and the shame covered me like a heavy thick blanket. There was a whisper somewhere deep within me that said, "Fight back. Stand up for yourself, you know the truth," but the whisper was smothered by the shame this man was attempting to heap on me.  So I let them tell me who I was and didn't fight for myself.  I regret that.  I regret not standing up for myself; I regret not being stronger in spirit to speak truth against the lies being told. It took me 5 years to go back to some of those men and confront the shame they had attempted to cover me in and stand up for myself.

I have said things I regret, I have behaved in ways that I regret, I have had relationships that I regret, and my guess is you have too.  Regret seems to be a part of life.  I've been thinking about regrets for the past few months, I guess actually for the past year or so.  This could be a good or bad thing.  Sometimes when dwelling on regrets I can begin to wallow. Other times I can see the other side of it.  I have done a little bit of both in the past year when thinking about regrets but now I'm at the place where I am acknowledging them without the wallowing and choosing to move forward without them tagging along. I mean really, what am I going to do about something I regret from 25 years ago? Nothing. I'm going to do nothing because it is what it is now; even then it was what it was. I think I might be able to see that even in the regret there was something good and right that happened within it or as a result of it. It's a very "unanswered prayers" perspective I am allowing myself to have and I'm learning how to have.

I was wallowing a bit a few months ago.  A relationship that had ended years ago resurfaced and unsettled my soul.  I had found my own closure with the person, without their participation, and had moved on a few years earlier.  And then suddenly they entered into my world, albeit on the fringes. Old and even some new regrets presented themselves and I was wading through the quicksand of rocky emotions and "what ifs." That's what wallowing in regret does.  All these "what ifs" start talking and distort reality and truth.  "What ifs" blur lines that were sharp just a day ago.  Regret drags a countenance down.  Regret pulls us back to the past and convinces us that it is too late to start over, make a brand new start, forgive, change, etc.  Regret is the tool used to turn us away from truth.

The lie of regret says, "It's over, it's finished. You are stuck in this place forever."
The truth says, "You can start over right now this very second and move forward."

The lie of regret says, "Maybe if you had just waited it out and been more patient you would have gotten it."
The truth says, "Don't waste your life on a 'what if'.  Move forward and don't settle for second best."

The lie of regret says, "You can't change what you have done. You will be all alone now."
The truth says, "You can't change what you have done but you can make amends and seek restoration. You are not alone."

The lie of regret says, "Shame is your name, you need to hold on to it to remind yourself of your wretchedness."
The truth says, "You are not who you were, you are forgiven and released."

There's more where those lies and truth come from but you get the idea. My guess is you have battled some of those lies yourself.  They aren't unique to just me or you, lies are unimaginative and universal.  The truth is the cure for what ails.  And once truth conquers the lie we see that we can start over, start fresh, restore, and create a new story that is redemptive.

A couple of years ago my High School Yearbook Advisor contacted me and asked me to come and speak to a girls class she was teaching at the Christian High School I graduated from.  I sat down in front of these Christian High School teenagers, flooded with memories of my own days there, and told them about the F-bomb.  And I told them about the regret I have of that instance.  Then I shared with them what I learned in the years since about regret, shame, healing, and the power of words. I'm not the girl I was when the F-bomb flew out of my mouth, I'm better than a word that indicates I have no imagination or class.

Fast forward a few months after I spoke to the girls at the Christian High School.  The same teacher asked me back for a new class of girls. This time I sat in front of them and told them about my indiscretions with purity and the regret I have because of it.  I told them how my choices to lower my standards for temporal lust have affected me in the years since. Then I shared with them what I learned since then about regret, shame, healing, and purity.  I'm not the girl I was when I asked my boyfriend to take us physically farther than I knew was good for us, I'm better than a choice that indicates I have no self-control or standards.

About 5 years after I had been dismissed from the church staff because I was "unfit" I walked through the doors with my husband at my side. We sat in two offices that day and with both men I stood up for myself and truth as I should have done 5 years prior.  I presented evidence to refute the lies they believed about me, I confronted them on their own choices regarding the treatment of me, I gave them the full story rather than let the half-story sit out there and continue to distort truth. I could do this because regret had no hold on me and shame was not my name.  Some would say, "You waited five years?  Sheesh, couldn't you just let it go?" The answer is no. No, I could not let it go because God would not let it go.  And if I had not followed God's timing on the when and where of standing up for truth I would have new regrets to deal with. I do my best to avoid having regrets.  :)  Guess what?  The timing, five years later, was perfect.  Both men were in a place to hear me and to seek restoration with me. Freedom happened that day.

Does regret have a place in your life?  Have you allowed it to set up camp in your heart?  Has it gotten comfy in your mind?  Make a choice to evict regret and reclaim truth!  It may mean forgiving self, forgiving others, making a few lifestyle changes, taking a risk, etc but the long-term benefit of the choice to reclaim truth is worth any short-term pain.  I PROMISE.  Carl Bard said, "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."  Start from now and write a new ending to your story.  I am, so you are not alone!

By the way, I have never said the F-bomb again. *wink*

Reflections...No regrets

I'm in the midst of reflecting on the past couple of years of life.  I've just wrapped up a stint as one of the front desk faces at Young Life.  God is moving me on, I don't like it one bit but I'm going to walk in obedience to it.
Here's a look back at some of my other posts in the past couple of years about my time at Young Life...
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Being a Front Desk Receptionist
An Update on All the Sides of Being the Front Desk Receptionist
My 90 Day Review
A Year in Review

Last *you* heard from me was my year review.  Here's the brief update from that point:

2012 was a year of upheaval and change in our department, it was a tough year - it was either going to make us or break us!  I think a little of both happened.

The Young Life Celebration in January 2012 was amazing.  Again, such a generous gift from Young Life to Lanny and myself.  The weather was great, we got to sit by a pool in January!  What a gift that alone was for the middle of winter.  We were spoiled rotten by Young Life and blessed.  We came home from that trip with the compulsion to help start up a Young Life Club in Falcon, where we live.  Since then we have been on the super slow track to seeing that happen but we're still inching along toward that goal.

I literally know every single employee at the Service Center - both buildings!  That's crazy to me.  It is crazy to me that I have somehow been able to retain all those people in my memory bank.

The inner-office gifts came to an end.  I actually have a job to do (admin tasks) so couldn't keep up with that!  Nobody seemed to mind, by the time those ended the ice had been broken.  :)

During an extensive renovation of our Lobby the front desk was relocated to a noisy little box (an office but...ugh!).  Fortunately the "box" contained a large white board that I decided couldn't go blank as long as I was around!  So for the time we were contained to that space I put up a quote every day.  This led to my newest 365 Experiment which is a quote a day.

I became a Barista of sorts as our newly renovated Lobby served fresh ground coffee grown in Nicaragua in a joint venture with Young Life!  Check out Beyond Beans, great coffee and a great cause!

Changes were being stirred up....

As I said at the start, God is moving me on from Young Life and I'm not all that happy about it.  I love my job.  I actually don't even have adequate words to express how much I love my job.  I'm also pretty good at my job.  I've learned a lot and I've put it into practice. I've helped my boss with some of the more tedious tasks so she is freed up.  I've done my best to make sure people who walk into the Service Center are welcomed and feel welcomed.  I've held mini-counseling sessions at the front desk (this doesn't surprise those of you who know me well) and have been a place for people to be heard.  I'm pretty good at my job and not just the admin stuff.  The relational stuff I am able to balance out with the admin.  I love my job.  But changes were being stirred up and I believe timing is everything.  The time came for Lanny and I to look at me having to earn more than a part-time income.  We see some changes being stirred up in our family life and his workplace and we knew, through prayer and discussion, that we needed me to be in a job that was full time and offered medical benefits should the time come that his job no longer does that.  Unfortunately there was nothing for me at Young Life that could offer what my family and I now need.  Btw, there is NOW.  But like I said a minute ago, timing is everything.  An opportunity and offer opened up to me so fast that I am still, almost three weeks later, trying to figuratively catch my breath!  Timing is everything.

So I've been reflecting on my time at Young Life the past couple of years and how it intersected with my personal life.  I started working at Young Life just as I was coming out of a deep depression (I bet some of you didn't know that!) and it was tough for me.  It's hard enough to exert energy on the heels of depression but combine it with my core personality of being an introvert (seriously quit arguing with me about this, I know who I am!) and the first few weeks were tough.  Even now, 2.5 years later, I prefer to spend my mornings before work not talking or interacting with others much and my evenings after work not talking or interacting with others much.  I conserve all of my energy for the front desk and the interaction it takes to do the job.  But it turns out that the "forced" interaction has been good for me.  It helped keep me from falling back into the deep depression I was in, it helped me re-enter the work of a ministry, it helped me sharpen my skill set and even further define my skills.  It also gave me the opportunity to see what kind of work had been done in me as I settled further into my skin.  It rebuilt in me a confidence that had been lost and was struggling to be found.

The decision to leave has been a hard one.  If I was ever going to leave the timing was accelerated by the changes in our family life.  I was thinking this morning about the reason why leaving is so hard for me, outside of the obvious ones of course.  And here it is.  In this particular instance obedience to God is more difficult for me because I am being asked to walk away from something that I really love, am good at, and I know is not displeasing to God.  It's something that my time is up and I don't like that one bit!  So I have had a lot of moments of second-guessing, hoping something might change, wishing I didn't hear from him as clearly as I did.  But as my time wound down at Young Life I knew deep deep down that I was being called to follow his lead and he was leading me right out of Young Life.  I don't know why exactly.  Maybe Young Life has become a comfort zone for me.  Maybe something is going to happen at Young Life that God didn't need me to witness.  Maybe all along I was only a "short timer" even though in my plans I was in it for the long haul.  I don't know.  All I know is I have had a lot of tough and emotional moments in the past 3 weeks.  And I expect I will have a few more in the weeks to come.  Introverts don't like starting over socially, well at least this introvert doesn't. It's hard for me to meet new people, it's hard for me to start over that way.  I'd rather hole up in some cave and never need to come out.  I'll be working longer days and so therefore be exerting more energy in interactions.  And for the next 6+ months I will be learning new things and really giving my brain and memory bank a work out!  There will be days that I feel incompetent and will doubt that I did hear from God about leaving.  My tough and emotional days aren't over.  But if all of those things culminate in me being exactly where God wants me to be and walking in obedience to him then I can say, even now, "I'm good."  I don't want to be anyplace other than obedience to God.  Even if it is hard and stretches me it's where I want to be if it is obedience to him.

Finally, let me tell you how God has answered a prayer of mine.  When I started at Young Life 2.5 years ago I asked people to pray for me to be a blessing to the employees and guests of Young Life.  I had no idea what I was talking about but I knew that if I was going to be a blessing then it was going to be the Jesus in me.  I didn't try to be anything or anyone other than myself, I asked God to help me be true to myself - who he created me to be - and that I would bring joy to the people I interacted with each day.  Don't get me wrong I had some bad days.  I had some days where it took everything in me to be pleasant.  I had some days where the smile on my face was more pasted on than natural and willing.  I had some days where the thought of putting on make-up and put on real clothes was overwhelming.  I had some days where my irritations boiled over and people steered clear of the front desk.  But I had some great days.  I had days in which my ability to remember someones name made their day and so therefore made mine.  I had days in which I couldn't stop smiling.  I had days in which I got to see some relief run across the face of my boss because she knew she could trust me to get the job done.  I had days that I was able to communicate value to an employee and their whole demeanor shifted.  I had more than some great days. I had many great days. And I think, just maybe, that God answered my prayer and honored my request to be a blessing.  During my final week at Young Life employees and vendors alike took time to personally communicate with me about the relationship we were able to develop in the past couple of years.  I didn't go seeking out these people, they came to me and let me know what I meant to them - a lot of them were people I didn't expect!  And on my last day God gave me a glimpse of the impact he allowed me to make at the Young Life Service Center through his grace and strength alone.  And I was blessed. I was blown away. I was humbled.  I think it was part of why the tears started and I can't quit.

No regrets.  That is sometimes an overused phrased but it applies here.  I have not one regret about my days spent at Young Life.  As I continue to reflect while I move on I may feel twinges of pain but regret won't be making an appearance.