Leaving your past in the past.

My first blog post was supposed to be about letting God carry you. It was going to be a three part series covering (willingness, humility, trust/fear, faith), the whole nine and today, while I was doing chores at my grandma's, my mind was being bogged down by my past. It's been stressing me for the longest time too. I got tired and Father reminded me, this blog was meant to share my experiences as a growing Christian and how God has brought me through, things that helped me and may help you too. So I switched it up and, well... 'past'. 

Everyone has a past, be it good or bad. We all have regrets; things we wish we could change, things we wish didn't happen and because of these, some of us begin to live in the past focusing on our regrets and things we wish could've been done better. These thoughts keep us stagnant and make us unable to move forward. 

I once read a devotional on YouBible where it was stated, non verbatim; living in your past is a clear indication you believe your treasures are still there. Luke 12: 34 says 'for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This statement hit home because it was true.

Some other reasons may be: familiarity which is in tandem with fear of the unknown and a fake sense of safety your past gives you. These you feel because even though where you were in your past may not have been good for you, you knew what you were dealing with and it was comfortable.

Take for example, the Israelites when God brought them out of Egypt complained to Moses asking him why he brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness in Exodus 14: 10-11.

If you know the story of the Israelites while they were in Egypt, you know they suffered. They were slaves; but still they would rather go back to Egypt to continue suffering instead of trusting God for the future He had promised them. Why?  Because it was a terrain they were familiar with and they knew how to navigate it well. They knew exactly what they were getting and even if it was suffering they'd pick that. There's something else I am trying to get to if you're following, which is the fear of the unknown. 

The reason why most of us still marinate in our past is because of fear of the unknown. With God however, there's no need to be scared because He said in Jeremiah 29: 11 'for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end'. As long as you abide in Him, whatever your unknown may be, it WILL be GOOD.

Another thing is when we leave our past, we go through this 'wilderness' phase that prepares us for our future. I am going through mine now and boy is it not a walk in the park. This stage is kind of exciting knowing where it will lead us to. It is the stage where we improve, become better, it's where we grow; making sure we're ready for future God has prepared for us. This phase however, gets tough and that's where some of us fold and start dwelling in our past thinking we wouldn't be here if blah blah blah didn't happen to us, if we didn't do blah blah blah and it leads nowhere truthfully. Our past has NOTHING to offer us. The only thing you can do is learn from it so if you're in a similar situation in the future, you'd know what to do. Other than serve as a lesson, your past is no place to live.

Even Paul says in Philippians 3: 13 to forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead.

God wants nothing to do with your past, Pops has forgotten what you were, where you were, and all He cares about is you; what you will be and where He is taking you. Not your mistakes or flaws. You have to trust Him to get you through the wilderness phase to the future He has prepared for you.

Let's not be like the Israelites, who wanted to go back to subjugation because of fear even when they had the Lord God by their side. Ask God to help you let go of your past. Ask Him to help you see that your treasures are not buried in your past and to trust in the future He has for you. These are prayers I say very frequently because it's where I'm at.

We could also assess ourselves. Ask yourself, would I rather go back to the familiar past that exists mostly in my head than the future God has for me? Keeping in mind His plans for you are of good and not evil. Would you rather grovel in your head than go through your wilderness phase, get better and pop out with Christ in your 'promised land' of a new future?

Tip

When your past wants to rear it's ugly head, take hold of that thought process and remind yourself 'my treasures are not in my past, they're in my future with God'.

God bless you, amen