Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say "i find no pleasure im them".

I was recently going through a rough time, and a good friend of mine told me to take a look at this verse in the Bible. After reading it, i realised that i really have to be smart about my decisions and choices in life, especially in my teenage years, because if i dont, by the time i no longer want to be involved in those 'things that the youth are involved in' it could be too late. Soon, my time to be judged will come. Honestly, due to my past, im not looking foward to it, mainly it's fear.. and also guilt. Luckily for me, we have a forgiving God. He is LOVE, no one can change that, and therefore he can make anything happen. Although i am not looking foward to being judged, i still have time to change that. If i really want to, i can ask for forgiveness, i can be forgiven, and God will choose to 'forget' my sin.. he'll just put them away somewhere and pretend they dont exist. I can start with a clean slate, a fresh beginning, where my past sins dont really exist anymore. I have the chance to start using my years of youth for the best.

In saying this, i mean that instead of doing things to please myself, I have the chance to do things that please God. In pleasing God come many benefits. Not only will i feel good about myself and i will no longer have regrets, but it may also help me to earn Gods trust back; earn that relationship back that i havent been too involved in lately. Although some people may not believe in God, they have to know that there is something out there of a higher power. Everyone needs to have hope, and therefore they pray to God for things they want and need in their lives, even if they dont admit it. I've been through a phase in which i didnt believe in God, nor did i think about him or what he was thinking when i did certain things. Unfortunately, those things are the things that i regret most in my life, even if that was exactly what i wanted at that certain point in time. Those times were by far some of the worst emotionally painful times of my life. Thankfully, God is forgiving.. as I said before. If we truly want forgiveness, if we've messed up during our years of youth and want to redeem ourselves, we can. No matter what!