There is a sad story in the Bible about the wife of Lot. She was told not to look back at the life she left when God revealed His anger against Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:17, 26). She looked back instead of looking ahead to the changes that she needed to make.

We cannot change a bad beginning, but anyone can start anew and do something to make the ending better. We may limp, carry old wounds and scars, but we can leave the past behind and look to the future.

We all have some regrets and wish we would have made different decisions. Not everyone has a catastrophe to feel bad about in his or her past, but often past regrets tinge present and future decisions. Look forward, learn from the past—and then let it go. God tells us to become a “new man” (Colossians 3:10).