Make peace with your past

As I prayed on my knees the other day out of sense of longing to feel more of God's love, He spoke to my heart, "Make peace with your past."

I wasn't sure what that had to do with me feeling His love for me, but I trust that He always knows what I need and what I need to do.

How could making peace with my past help me feel God's personal love for me?

Then it dawned on me.  I still had resentment in my heart about certain things that He allowed to happen to me.  Traumatic stuff.  Painful stuff.  Stuff that I have let form me instead of letting His love form me.

But the worst of it is when I let the enemy darken my memories that were good ones!  Memories of how I obeyed God.  Like all of the times that I chose to obey Him when it didn't make sense.  But then, the enemy twists it and I remember some of the aftermath.

It's not a new thing.  Throughout the Bible we see God's people obeying God, stepping out in faith, and then reaping all kinds of bad stuff as a result.

We are all shaped by past experiences.  But as Christians, as new creatures in Christ, we do not have to let them define us.

We are not the sum total of our painful experiences.  I believe the enemy would have us stay stuck in the past mire all of our lives if we let him.

But we are called to rise above!  It is so cliche, but it is exactly what we need to do.

People have risen above darker pasts than mine.  So I know it is possible.

Also, all things are possible with God!  That means that whatever I've beem through that I'd just as soon wish never happened, can be transformed into good if I entrust it all to God and leave it in His Hands.

But what if you're waiting for a "better day" but life just doesn't seem to change much?

This is why we need to let God love us more and more.  To lean into His great love here and now.  For His love heals us.  His love sets us free.  His love restores us.  His love helps us let go our our past.

All of us, no matter how priveleged or protected, have been through painful stuff in our lives.  Some deny it.  Some sweep it under the rug.  Some try to ignore it.

But since our minds are the most powerful computers ever, crafted by the One True Living God, we have memories.  Our "hard drives" cannot be erased.  

So I've decided instead of letting the past snare me, I can let God repurpose it.  There is something there, in my past, that is meant to bring healing to others.  

How can my past hurts produce someone else's healing?!  

1. Others will relate to it on some level which reassures them that they are not alone
2. Others can learn from my life that God is still worth trusting no matter what and that there is victory in life when we let Him do His redeemimg work in us
3. Others can be encouraged to persevere, though they want to give up
4. Others can make peace with their difficult pasts and start to believe that God will work it all out for their good and His glory (see Romans 8:28)
5. Others may be set free from their pasts and the scars it has left so that they may bring healing to others, too

And I'm sure the list goes on.

We all want to be understood.  And when such singular events have taken place in our lives, we fear no one will be able to relate to or understand us.  Maybe not everyone will.  And that's ok.

But what if it were even just one person who might be set on the path of redemption because of your story?  It would be worth it!

Let's make peace with the past if we haven't done so already.  Instead of letting it color our vision of the future, let's trust the Lord instead.  He is worthy of all our trust.  He always knows exactly what He is doing.  And He is in the business of making beauty from ashes.

Oh Lord.  The enemy has been working overtime by trying to get my focus on the past.  They say that obedience brings a blessing.  But it can also lead to rejection when others forsake us for doing the unusual in obedience to You.  It challenges their own faith and makes them uncomfortable, so they simply dismiss us.  But I believe that there is gold to be mined from every experience in my life.  So instead of bemoaning past hurts, please redeem them all, Lord.  Because I know that You do work all things together for my good.   Help me not despise past hurts but see them as tools in Your Hand to mold and shape me into Your image, sweet Lord.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.