For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2 CORINTHIANS 7:10 DOUAY-RHEIMS
I don't think it is possible to get through life without making mistakes. Our Lord made one "mistake" in choosing Judas Iscariot except God doesn't make mistakes. God chooses to use our mistakes for His end. That is a very important lesson to remember. It allows us to try and keep trying even if failure may be the result. The only real failure is quitting.
I have made many mistakes in my life. I expect the same is true for you, Gentle Reader. Mistakes are part of the learning process. We fail our way to success. We discover what doesn't work until we find what does work.
Sins are not mistakes. We know better. God even uses those for His end. This is why you shouldn't beat yourself up for the rest of your life over those sins. God forgives. Learn to forgive yourself.
When I assay my life with my sins and mistakes, I realize I have only one regret in my life. It was the decision to become an atheist. I hung up the phone on God. That one decision, sin, and mistake yielded virtually all of the other sins and mistakes in my life. In that decision, I turned from trying to quitting. I knew God was real, but I did not understand Him. I still don't understand Him, but I trust in Him now when I lost faith and trust in Him all those years ago.
There is nothing to gain in atheism. Without God, your life has no value or meaning. Guys like Sartre and Nietzsche see this as a grand opportunity to find meaning in a meaningless existence. It can't be done. I gave it a good decade before coming to that conclusion. You will always go nowhere as an atheist.
There is a certain type of person who deals with trauma and crisis by turning inward. They try to find the answers within themselves. When this fails, they try to find the answer in a liquor bottle or some other self-medicating vice. This is just plain pathetic. I can't stand these people.
You should always turn to God with your problems and despair. God cares for you, and He will get you through. The pathetic navel gazers don't want this answer. They know God is the answer, but they prefer to ruminate and immolate their sanity and their lives. At the root of this is a hatred for God. When you hate God, the only one you are destroying is yourself.
My story has a happy ending. I hung up the phone on God, but He called me back. I picked up the phone again, and I have resolved to never hang up on God again. I might scream into the receiver once in awhile, but this turns to relief. Temporary circumstances should not turn into permanent decisions. Life is hard, and God hears your prayers even if they are groans. Trials and sufferings produce good things when offered up to God. Never lose your connection to God. Everything else will fall into place.
