How can I put things right

These days we live in a disposable society - if something goes wrong, we simply chuck it and buy a new one. Our lives are not so easily sorted out, but in God's hands they are not beyond repair. The first step is to be honest with ourselves (and with the people nearest to us) about what is really happening. The longer we pretend that everything's OK, the harder it is to set things right in the long term. And ask yourself as well whether you are just an innocent victim in all of this or whether through ignorance, weakness or your own deliberate fault, you have said or done things (or not done things) to make matters worse. Without this honest self-appraisal, it's very difficult for anyone (even God!) to do anything to help us.
The next thing to do is to seek help because often our problems are too big for us to cope with by ourselves. If you have no idea where to begin, ask someone you trust to point you in the right direction. But don't leave God out of the picture. He is used to people praying to him when they get into trouble and he is willing to listen and get involved, if you ask him to (though of course he�d like to hear from you in the good times as well).
The good news is that he can make a difference. Jesus talked about 'the Kingdom of God' which is, basically, God turning things upside down to set right what has gone wrong. His forgiveness can help you break with the past and start to live life a different way. The thing to remember is that God never throws anyone's life on the scrap heap: we matter far too much to him. The coming of Jesus shows that he is willing to invest in our failed lives, even to the point of giving his own life for us. Where there's God, there's hope, even for the worst of us.
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Tim Carter:

Tim became as Christian as a teenager in Walton on Thames and, after working in insurance, trained for the ministry at London Bible College (as it was then) where he met his wife Sue. Four children followed. Having worked in churches in Eastbourne and Leamington Spa, he came to be minister at Maidstone Baptist Church in 2002..