Read 2 Corinthians 7:10

Can you name people today who seem to listen carefully to God—people whose hearts are especially sensitive to the Holy Spirit? 

I can almost guarantee that those are men and women who know what it is to be broken and bruised. They have the scars to prove it.

Perhaps as you read these words you bear the marks of a carnal week, day after day in which you've gone your own way and grieved the Spirit of God. And now you come to these pages with desperation to change in your heart—to learn from God and renew your fellowship with Him. 

Do you realize what's happened? 

Your failure has given you a sensitive, teachable spirit. It has broken the pride barrier in your life. 

It is what Paul called a "godly sorrow" (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.