Maximizing Your Potential

help another young mother who is going through experiences similar to your own. Discouraging, defeating experiences may be part of your past life, but there is no reason why they must continue to discourage and defeat you. Indeed, they can become stepping stones to the releasing and maximizing of your potential if you are willing to acknowledge your past, to learn from your mistakes, and to allow God’s transforming power to turn your loss into gain. With God’s help, you are capable of rising above your shortcomings and of redeeming your less than-perfect decisions. He has not given up on you. He’s waiting to see what you will do with the rest of your life. Protect the present and the future from the past by facing the past and moving beyond it. This is an essential element of the journey to recover your potential. Redeeming the Days of Your Life The third step to recovering our potential is to redeem the time that is left to us. We cannot undo what is past, but we can make the necessary changes in our lives to permit the wise use of the remainder of our days. Time is God’s gift for accomplishing our purpose and fulfilling our potential. It begins the day we are born and ends when we die. The length of our physical life matches the days required to fulfill our purpose because God planned for the maturing of our lives within the total days He has allotted to us. Therefore, we have sufficient time to maximize our potential. The question is, Will we waste or use wisely the days God has assigned to our lives? Time is God’s gift for accomplishing our purpose and fulfilling our potential. The apostle Paul instructs us to “see then that [we] walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16 NKJV). In other words, we must find our purpose and use our potential to accomplish it. Likewise, we need to consciously refuse to allow procrastination, discouragement, and the other enemies of our potential to induce us to waste even one day of our lives. Whenever we use our time to do things that neither release our potential nor help us progress toward the accomplishment of our purpose, we forfeit or delay the opportunity to reach the excellency and completion God intended for our lives. Accepting God’s forgiveness and forgiving yourself, moving beyond your past, using your past to inform the future, and redeeming the remaining days of your life are the necessary factors that will permit you to recover your potential. Like the former prisoner who forgave herself for her past and used it to bring life and hope to others, you can replace the hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger, and despair in your life with peace, happiness, and fulfillment. Her