Whether it is what is happening with the details of Lindsay Lohan’s life, or the allegations concerning Herman Cain, the fact is, we have all made bad choices we wish we could take back, but today is a new day…and its time to make better choices.

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels” ~ Anonymous

It’s choices that determine how much money you make, your career, whether you realize your dreams, who you date, how much weight you lose or gain, and so forth. Unfortunately, no matter what our education, society doesn’t always do a great job teaching us how to make good choices. We rarely learn a decision-making process we can implement repeatedly, no matter the topic. Here’s five things to consider before you go forward on any project or decision:

1. Get my mind in a good place.

2. Get my spirit in a good place.

3. Have I checked my plans with smart people?

4. Do my plans coincide with God’s plans for my life?

5. How will this choice make me feel in the future?

This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.”

Isaiah 43:16-21 (MSG)