Mistakes... How to make them worth something!

I guess the way I'll end up doing this, is to post about my journey, currently going on in my life, and words of wisdom, that God has revealed to me through the years. And sprinkled throughout, will be posts that are a look into my past, my journey through that, and finally coming out the other side...

Mistakes... We ALL make them! Some worse than others... Unfortunately, it seems that for me to learn a lesson, God has to drop a brick on my head most of the time! Although, with all the mistakes I have made in the past, I am pretty quick to recognize when I have made a mistake now, and correct it quickly. Or sometimes, thank God, I can catch myself now, before I make a mistake.
Mistakes are never good, happy, or something we would choose to do, if we had a flash forward into the future! But they do happen, and sometimes we mess up bad. I know that I have. Some things I can say about that are, first of all, God is so good. He forgives, He redeems, and He restores. Second, it's what you do with the knowledge you have learned from your mistakes that makes all the difference. The only way to make your mistakes worth something, is to LEARN from them. If you don't, you will keep repeating the same mistakes, until you finally do learn! Take your mistakes, and turn them into learning and growing experiences. Experiences that will help you to learn lessons that will make you grow as a person, and make you stronger, within yourself and your relationship with God, and just wiser, in general. This will turn something that was meant for bad, into something good. Turn what was going to be a stumbling block, into a stepping stone, taking you into the place in your life that you are meant to be in, and help you to become the person you are meant to be.
Use your mistakes for good also, by sharing them. Share with people going through the same thing, who might feel stuck, like they are never going to be able to pull themselves out of the pit they are in. Share your mistakes, your journey, and your testimony of being able to make it through. And not just make it through, but come out strong, confident, and a better person than you were before. No one can help someone going through a situation, like someone who's been there!
There are so many lessons I have learned through my journey, which I will continue to share more of, in time. But the most important thing I can say on the subject of mistakes, is learn from them, use them to make you the person you are meant to be. To take you to the destiny that God has for you, His will for your life, and DON'T repeat them! That makes even the worst mistakes, mean something! "And we know that in all things, God works for the good, for those who love him." Romans 8:28 XOXO!