Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof – Public Sinner Number One – of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off – evidence of his endless patience – to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. - 1Timothy 1: 15-16 (The Message)

Sun-soaked days in Santorini, mouth-watering seafood in Crete – so far it had been the perfect Greek Island vacation. Now, on the last leg of our journey, we were back on the mainland exploring Athens' archaeological sites.

It was afternoon and the sun was beating down on us as we scrambled up the slippery surface of the Areopagus, the bald marble hill where Apostle Paul once preached. From the top, the view of the Parthenon and the sprawling city of Athens was breathtaking.

Earlier on the way up, we passed small groups of tourists holding what seemed like a private worship service. They were singing quietly, praying and reflecting. It was that kind of a place.

Athens was also the kind of place where history seemed so immediately accessible. The past was literally at your doorstep. You could take the metro to Monastiraki Station, for instance, step outside and come face to face with the ruins of Hadrian's Library.

In life however, it isn't always easy to come face to face with your past. Having a painful personal history at your doorstep is not something any of us desire.

Yet God is still able to take our failures, mistakes and shame and turn them into something of beauty and value. What's more amazing is that the parts in our story we would rather discard are the very parts God uses to bring about His good.

Apostle Paul came to understand this when he reflected on his own life story. Despite the regrettable events that had taken place, God was able to hold up Paul's life as evidence of His grace at work. That a persecutor of Christians could now be used by God to preach to others (including the Athenians at the Areopagus) gives hope to us all today.

Is there a part of your history that still hurts you even now? Don't let it remain a festering wound.

Give that memory and that hurt to God today. Only in God's hands, can the wasted years, the failures and the senseless pain become a source of good to people on the edge of trusting Him forever.

God can use your past to bless someone else's future.