SESSION OBJECTIVE:

1. Describe (a) an item of clothing you’re embarrassed to admit you used to wear, (b) a slang expression you can’t believe you used to say, or (c) a singer or music group you’re amazed that you used to like.

2. As you think back over the major decisions you’ve made in your life so far, what are some of your biggest regrets? How might these mistakes contribute to your feeling distant from God at times?

THE WORD

Read Luke 15:11–19, showing how the son’s choices brought him to a very different place from what he had sought.

1. What regrets do you think the son felt when he was alone and had to toil at the lowest of low jobs just to stay alive?

2. How did his regrets lead him to attempt a “do- over” in his life?

3. By the time he made his decision to return home, how had his longings changed since the time when he had asked his dad for his inheritance?

When we seek to fulfill our longings for love, purpose, and meaning on our own, we repeatedly find disappointment. The regret we feel for taking our own route can either lead to more longing and regret (a cycle many people never escape) or motivate us to seek help from the One who can help us most. You don’t have to waste the power of your sincere regret on more self- condemnation and stuckness. You can let it move you confidently in God’s direction. Why? Because now you know the truth, and it’s a truth that you can put to work in your life over and over again in the years ahead: with God, we can always start over.

THE LIFE

1. Have you ever felt yourself stuck in a cycle of longing, disappointment, and regret? If so, describe what was going on.

2. How do you wish you could start over in your life? How do you think your life would be different if you could do it?

3. Do you feel you’re ready now for a change that would bring you closer to God? If so, what’s the next step? If not, what’s holding you back?

Read the following passage from Scripture and underline one or more lines that mean the most to you.

“This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” – Isaiah 43:16–21

No matter how many failures you may have had in the past, it’s possible for you to have a fresh start in your life today. The starting point is to believe in the possibility. You have to say no to the cycle of longing, disappointment, and regret. As best you can, define the way in which you need a new start in your life by writing out the following sentences, filling in the blank:

I need to start over in my life by: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THROUGH SONG

Thank You Lord

Some thank the Lord for friends and home
For mercies sure and sweet
But I would praise Him for His grace
In prayer I would repeat

Thank You Lord for saving my soul
Thank You Lord for making me whole
Thank You Lord for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free

THROUGH PRAYER

Pray the following prayer:
God, if You are real, make Yourself real to me.
Awaken in me the possibility
that with You I could start over again

Then continue your prayer time by talking to God about the need you feel to move past the place where you’ve gotten stuck and to begin again with Him.