17"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. " (Acts 3:17-20)
It was through our ignorance and sin that put Christ up there on the cross and crucified him. So we must repent and turn to God; because only through confessing our sins and changing our ways will He then bring us times of refreshing. Repentance is not only saying that you're sorry. It's not merely realizing your mistake, but being proactive to fix your mistake in order to prevent it from happening again.
It's like when you hold a heavy burden in your heart when you know you did something bad.. You can't seem to let it go in fear of the consequences. So you hide in the dark from others and even yourself- never let it into the light because light exposes all sins. But when you confess, God lifts that burden from your shoulders and puts it on his own.
“Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before." (Joel 2:23)
