When your life feels like it’s falling apart, knowing what you can change—and what you can’t change—can make all the difference.

You can’t change your past. You can’t change your parents. You can’t change the gifts and talents God has or hasn’t given you. You can’t change a handicap you’ve been given. You can’t bring back a loved one who has died.

You might as well accept all of those things. You’ll start to find peace in the midst of troubles when you accept what you can’t change. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself and the people you love miserable.

There’s much you can’t change, but there’s something important you can change: you can change you.

When Jeremiah’s world was falling apart, he wrote in Lamentations 3:40, “Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD” (GNT).

What’s going on in your life that doesn’t line up with what God wants? Depending on how we react, crises can help us as we learn to focus our eyes on what matters: Jesus.

To re-order your life God’s way, it’ll take some gut-level self-evaluation. You’ll need to do an inventory of every area of your life. You’ll need to take a look at your relationship with God, your spouse, your kids, your friends, and your co-workers. You’ll need to look at hurts and hang-ups that may be bringing you down. You have to assess what habits are leading you closer to Christ-likeness and which ones are pulling you away. You need to be honest about your flaws—not someone else’s—that got you where you are. Nothing can be off limits.

It’s not easy. It can get messy. It’s always tough to turn from sin, even when it’s tearing us down.

But you can’t find healing without telling yourself the truth about yourself. Healing apart from repentance can’t last. When your world is falling apart, you’ll be tempted to bemoan every area of your life.

That’s a waste of time. You can’t change everything—but, remember, you can change you.

And when your world is falling apart, that can mean everything.