Five Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me

1. Enjoy today and plan for tomorrow.

Proverbs 16:3 (ESV): Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Proverbs 19:21 (ESV): Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV): Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

2. Do what's right and don't agonize over others' opinions.

1 Timothy 4:12-16 (ESV): Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Ephesians 4:29 (ESV): Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

3. Be grateful more and complain less.

1 Peter 4:9 (ESV): Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

               1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV): Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;                                for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

4. Lean into failure and learn from it.

John 21:15-17 (ESV): When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."

5. Always remember the Sunday School answer, "Jesus."

Philippians 1:21 (ESV): For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

1 John 5:13-14 (ESV): I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

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