Forgive the past so you can embrace the future.
[aka – stop letting your past be the water that dampens your heart fire]
Do you have experiences and events pinned in your memory that you keep wishing would have played out differently?
I do!
- I wish I had made better decisions and avoided losing the company I built from scratch
- I wish my grandfather hadn’t stolen my innocence when I was a young girl
- I wish my family didn’t call me ‘prissy’ when I was growing up making me feel wrong for being the way I was
- I wish my marriage had not gone through a season of infidelity
- I wish…
What’s on your list?
It’s so easy to make the list. In fact, we’re encouraged to make these lists for self development exercises so we can explore where our ‘false’ stories come from and the sources of our limiting beliefs.
In these exercises, there is always a moment when we are required to forgive – forgive a person, forgive ourselves…just forgive. I read once that forgiveness is letting go of a hope that you could have had a better past.
God brought this to mind recently during a chat time when I was grieving over the painful things I’ve been through. He took me to scriptures that reminded me that I’m called to trust Him in all things.
As He walked me through each scripture, I realized that I was holding onto a wish that things could have played out differently and this was keeping me from moving forward. With each thought and awareness, He let me see how I needed to trust Him more.
❤I saw that our ability to forgive (people / things / ourselves) comes from a deeper trust in Him as the author of our story.
❤ I saw that our ability to move forward and fulfill His plans for us requires eyes on the road before us, not the past behind us.
❤ I saw that our ability to embrace all that God desires of us requires us to not lament what happened and is happening TO us but instead celebrate what He did and is doing IN us.
If you’re wondering why your story has played out as it has, or you’re holding onto a wish that things could have been less difficult or painful so tightly you can’t move forward, maybe this chat with our creator and author will minister to you as it did me.
A Conversation with God
Where you see [__] insert your name
Proverbs 3:5-6 ERV
Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way.
[__], Do you trust Me? Do you trust me as the loving author of your story?
[__], stop looking back wishing you’d had a better past. Let your faith, trust and belief in Me be enough. Your story isn’t about what has and is happening TO you but what has and is and happening IN you through your faith in Me.
[__], when you make that list of what happened TO you, go back and list what I’ve accomplished IN you as a result of the chapters in your story.
[__], It’s ok to wish it could have been accomplished in you in an easier and less painful way, but it’s not to your benefit or my glory to dwell on that thought. Instead, bring your thoughts back to your trust in Me. Trust that I wrote your story perfectly – exactly as it needed to be. Trust that my story FOR you is not one of things done against you.
Continue the Conversation
RESPONSE…
Lord, I trust you completely. I believe and trust that everything that I’ve been through is exactly what was required for You to do Your work in me and through me.
I offer my thanks for loving me through every hard, painful and challenging moment of my story.
I trust that if it could have been different – it would have been different. I trust that it wasn’t different because different wasn’t the best for me; that different wasn’t the best way for You to do Your merciful work in me.
A conversation implies back and forth communication. God is speaking over you right now. Take some time to meditate and continue this conversation.
Use these questions to chat with God. Let Him bring you into a closer relationship with Him.
- What’s on your wish list, the list of things and experiences from your past that you wish had played out differently?
- Take each thing listed and ask God to show you how He did a work IN you and move your focus off of what happened TO you.
- Make a new list of the things you hear from God. Spend time giving Him thanks for the work He has done IN you for His glory.
- Ask God to reveal to anything you still need to cover in forgiveness and stop wishing the past had be different.
- Ask God what areas of your life He wants you to live with more trust in Him.
How did He speak a fresh message over you today?
Everyday He sits and waits. A reservation for two that never expires. But the meal cannot be served until the entire party is seated. How long will I keep my creator waiting?
Want the book?
Tami’s book “Feeding a Hungry Soul – Conversations at a Table for Two” is scheduled to launch in 2021.
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