For a long time, I had been battling
with condemnation. As a young believer, I had a lot of baggage.
I mean a whole lot!
My past holds tons of regretful
actions. Every time I reminisce on what my past looked like, I find myself desperate,
worthless and seemingly helpless.
How
could God use a woman like me?
I remember vividly that fateful day
when I was sitting at my dining room table. The Holy Spirit whispered to me to
stand up and walk backwards.
I stood up and I began to walk backwards.
Tripping over a table leg, I fell on
one of the chairs, knocking my shin on the table leg and ended up with a
bruise.
That day Lord stepped into my torn
life, my story changed.
The Lord stepped into my broken pieces, and mended my heart.
He taught me what it really means to
look back.
Every time we look back
we walk backwards
His mercies had freed me from the
condemnation and gave me new life, a new path and new strength to keep pressing
toward the high calling of Jesus Christ in my life.
He showed me that if all I ever do is look backwards I will
never be able to walk right.
When you walk backwards you will fall,
When you walk backwards you will
stumble
When you walk backwards you will end
up hurting yourself because you can’t see the obstacles behind you.
When we walk forward, we can walk
right, and He is able to prepare us for what lies ahead.
If all we ever do is
look back, we will miss what lies ahead.
When you look back you miss out on what lies ahead.
I found deep strength from one of my
favorite verses Philippians 3:13-14.
“Brothers, I
do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do; forgetting what
lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 ESV
May be your past is as shameful as
mine.
May be you are too ashamed to let
others into your past.
May you are tired of bearing the
weight of your past.
Gal, I have been there!
There are other moments, may be in our
youth, our jobs or our energies we remember the good times and wish things
would be the same.
Good or Bad, looking back is not what
God wants for us.
He wants us to go forward.
He wants us to look ahead in hopeful
anticipation of the great things He has prepared for us.
Do
you remember in when the Israelites remembered Egypt and spoke so fondly of it?
“sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full” (Exodus 16:3
ESV).
They forgot their oppression and
torment
They forgot their cries for help.
Here they were in Exodus 5 complaining
about the amount of work and tasks laid on them.
In Exodus 2:24, the Lord heard their groaning.
Unbelievably in Exodus 16, they remember
their life in Egypt as a paradise!
Isn’t that just like us?
We forget is the people we actually
were and due to present circumstances we don’t grasp the mercies God had showed
us.
Yes friend, every time we dwell on our
past we fail to see God’s compassion.
If we continue to dwell on our past we
may lose what goodness the Lord has laid for our future.
I
don’t know about you, but who I was back then is not someone I ever want to be
again.
I was tormented by the memories of my
behaviors, and by my sins when I realized how deprived I really was. I was a
sinner, in need of a Savior.
God brought us out of that life to bring us into something
greater.
But that is not always easy to see
when our circumstance seems so difficult, so hard, and so impossible.
I want to share three
things That helped through those rough days
♥ Don’t allow the memories of your
past turn your heart away from the blessings God has for your today and
tomorrow.
♥ Let your past go.
♥ Allow God take what you were and
make you into something much better.
When I look back on my life now, all
I see is the powerful grace of my God who was able to take this wretched,
sinful woman and use her for His glory over and over again.
I
encourage sister, woman to woman, just keep pressing forward.
Every time that reminder of sin comes
creeping into your heart and into your mind, lay it down, and let God give you
the strength to be who He has called you to be today.
If we keep looking back, we will miss
what lies ahead.
Press forward and keep moving, sister.
Yesterday is gone.
You have been forgiven, and His mercy
is new for you again, today. You have to wake up, and do what Paul tells you to
do, forget what is behind and keep pressing toward that prize of Jesus Christ.
Don’t keep looking back.
God has
something much greater for you just ahead. Amen!
About the Author
Stephane Singletary gently leads "The Upper Room" Women's Ministry where writes and teaches women to love Christ. If you live around Clayton, North Carolina, US, you are more than welcome to join us. Simply send an email to stephis545@gmail.com
She is also the author of "Winning Him Without A Word: Learning to Live and Love an Unbelieving Husband".
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