“But I focus on this one thing; Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” (Philippians 4:13 NLT)
This scripture emerged today in my quiet time with the Lord. I’ve struggled a lot regarding forgetting the past. I have a strong memory and forgetting things does not come easy for me, especially if the memory consists of pain, hurt, trauma, someone treating me badly or even mistakes I’ve made. These memories are hard to forget because they are things I want to learn and grow from but also things I want to ensure doesn’t happen again in my life. However, here’s the issue with thinking like this: it only focuses on the negative memories. The negative is the story that you constantly replay and relive as well as the recording that is the narrative that you consider to be true.
In the book “Wholeness” by Pastor Touré Roberts, he challenges the reader on their journey to wholeness to think about what they are feeding their minds – is it positive or negative? Throughout scripture we are encouraged to renew our mind, to guard our minds and to meditate day and night on scripture. One of the tricks of the enemy (devil) is to infiltrate our minds and have us thinking negative thoughts. We think about all the past mistakes we’ve made. We think about all the people who did us wrong, we harbor unforgiveness and stay in bondage to sins and failures because we aren’t able to forget about the past. I believe this isn’t a coincidence and I would suggest it is because our minds (and our hearts) will determine our future.
God tells us to renew our minds daily. Renewing our minds allows for the negative talk to be silenced and for God’s word to dominate our thoughts. If the enemy can keep you bound to your past and allow you to continuously replay the negative things that has happened to you, he can paralyze you and cause you to become stagnant in moving and looking forward into the beautiful future that God has for you. The enemy will cause you to miss out on job opportunities, friendships, relationships and so many other things. We think that, because someone treated us bad and did us wrong, the next person will do the same. We place walls up with the mindset that we are “protecting or shielding” ourselves from being hurt again, but all it’s doing is allowing us to continuously live in the past and the shame of what happened to us instead of evaluating the hurt and trauma. Evaluating the hurt and trauma frees us from having a victim mindset to a victor mindset. This might look like going to therapy or counseling, journaling and accessing what red flags did we ignore.
Maybe you haven’t been hurt or wrong and that’s not your story. However, some live in the past regarding failure. You might have stepped out on faith and started the business only for it to not succeed. Now, because of that failure you are withholding your gifts, talents and purpose because you don’t want to fail again. Perhaps you’ve gotten a divorce and now you are afraid to commit to the person that God has for you because you don’t want to fail at marriage again.
This is not what our Father wants for you. I encourage you to release the chains that have kept you bound to the past. I encourage you to start processing what happened and not sweep it under the rug. Deal with your childhood trauma and insecurities. It doesn’t matter if what happened to you was a week ago or forty years ago, you deserve a future that is free from the past. The journey isn’t easy, but it is definitely worth it for the future that is awaiting you.
Finally, I don’t believe that life is meant to be done alone. I believe that everyone should have a community around them on this journey we call life. If you’ve found yourself alone due to others betraying your trust, I urge you to try and find one friend that you can talk to and share. Loneliness is one-way people can slip into depression and mental illness. I don’t want that to be you. Isaiah 48:17 says “I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go”. Please allow God to teach and direct you in this season, please don’t try to figure it all out by yourself and don’t go after this healing on your own.
I love you and I’m praying for you. If you ever need a listening ear, I’m here!
With Love,
Marshay
