We make our future better by learning from our experiences. It has been said that experience is the best teacher, but not necessarily. The best teacher is EDUCATED EXPERIENCE, meaning that we learn something from our experiences. You will be destined to repeat your experiences if you do not learn anything from them. Just because you went through something does not automatically mean you learned from it. 

Many people have experienced great things but have nothing to show for it. They are not better off or wiser. However, when we evaluate, take the time to reflect, and learn from our experiences, we can always make improvements. 

Remember the Children of Israel? They wandered in the desert for forty years because they couldn’t learn from their experiences. In reality, they had a one-year experience and repeated it for forty years! They consistently experienced God’s provision yet always complained and questioned God at every corner. They didn’t get it. They did not have an educated experience. They simply had an experience but never let that experience teach them.

There is always a lesson to learn when going through situations in our lives. The good, the bad, and the ugly all have a lesson to be learned from. Going through certain circumstances in our lives doesn’t always mean God caused it, but it does mean He can speak to us through it. Remember Joseph’s story? His brothers turned against him, threw him in a pit, then sold him into slavery in Egypt. Yet, through all this, Joseph stayed faithful to God and eventually became Egypt’s ruler through a series of circumstances. When his brothers came to him, this is what he said…

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

What perspective Joseph had! Can you imagine going through the circumstances he experienced with his own family members? Yet, it all turned around, and God used it for something great. God has a way of working things out for His glory. We must learn from our experiences and allow God to use them for a better future. Never waste an experience by not specifically learning something from it. 

The next time you go through something, ask yourself, “What have you learned from this?”