When I look back over my life, I can see where I’ve missed out on some God-given opportunities. Maybe you could say the same thing. If so, I want to encourage you: Don’t live in regret. Don’t let lost opportunities make you feel disappointed and discouraged. Know that God is bigger than your lost opportunities, and He can still get you where you need to be in life!

Have you ever used one of those GPS devices in your car? You set the location to where you want to go, and the GPS calculates the best route. Even if you’re driving along and get distracted and completely miss the street where the GPS instructed you to turn, that doesn’t mean you’ll never reach your destination. That GPS will instantly recalculate the route based on your present location.

God works in a similar way. He is constantly giving us direction, speaking to our hearts and leading us by peace in our spirits. Even when we miss His instructions—and we all do from time to time—He will recalculate our route and get us back where we need to be. But, you’ll never reach your destination if you are constantly trying to look back over your shoulder to see where you should have turned in the first place. You have to forget about what you’ve missed so you can focus on what lies ahead.

I love what the apostle Paul said in Philippians, “This one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind I press forward to what is ahead.” Paul was saying in essence, “This one thing I’m going to focus on more than anything else.” “This one thing is the most important key to living the life of victory.” “This one thing will carry me to my destiny.” This one thing—forgetting the past and looking forward. Like Paul, we have to aggressively turn our thoughts away from where we’ve been, away from our mistakes, away from our “missed turns,” and turn our thoughts forward in the direction we are headed. We have to keep looking for the new opportunities in our paths and shake off regret and disappointments. This is a new day, and God wants to do a new thing in your life.

Today, it doesn’t matter if you’ve made some wrong choices or if you’ve gotten off track. God knows right where you are, and He has a new route ready for you. He wants to restore those opportunities that once seemed lost forever. It may not always be the way you think; but if you’ll stay open, He’ll get you back on track and bless you beyond your wildest dreams.

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).