Monday, August 12, 2019

Why the Past Shouldn't Define You







As recently posted in the Emma Joy Weekly Newsletter


Beauty from Ashes


Hello, everyone.


Today I would like to address something that commonly trips many people up: the choices they have made in the past.


I'd like to start out with saying that every single person you meet has made choices you know nothing about, has dealt with losses and crosses you aren't aware of, and has gone through circumstances that have shaped their character for better or worse depending on how they handled them.


I experienced self-hatred and gnawing guilt for several years of my life. I saw myself through the lens of what I had done or what had been done to me instead of resting in the Lord's forgiveness and seeking His restoration earnestly.


Too often people believe that the choices they have made or choices others have made regarding them means they are that choice. But just because you have experienced something or done something less than noble does not mean those things have the final say over how your life will turn out.


There are always underlying reasons for what we do (or what others have done to us). When we actively pursue healing from our experiences, we gain a vocabulary for our wounds and begin the process of being transformed and set free. When we work through our issues we start to see that the wounds others have inflicted upon us are the result of their own brokenness and unresolved traumas.


Unless you understand that a child's mind and heart must be cultivated from a young age in order for them to be a healthy adult and productive citizen of society, you will always be at a loss when it comes to explaining your brokenness or that of other people. We don't know what we've never been taught. And what's been modeled to us impacts us. If we grew up in an unhealthy environment, we will be the byproduct of that environment and will live out our brokenness until God or the natural consequences of our decisions intervene and cause us to think twice about changes that need to be made.


Please understand that the Lord offers forgiveness to all who accept Jesus' sacrifice on their behalf. We can apply its healing balm to our past, present, and future. We can choose from this day forward to believe that God's word is true despite how we feel and in its pages we can find life, wholeness, direction, and conviction. Not one person is entirely pleased with the choices they have made and not one person has gone through life without other people inflicting serious wounds upon them through their words, actions, assumptions, or gossip.


We are all broken (even if that brokenness varies in intensity and manifests itself in very different ways).


I told my mom last night that I have come to believe life as an adult is simply working through all the junk that has taken place in the first half of your life and learning how to undo patterns, thoughts, and beliefs that crushed us during our formative years. Life is not a game. Anything worthwhile must be worked for and kept at until we gain the prize. We can be transformed. We can change and become entirely new people. I have and will continue to.


You are still alive. With every hour we have breath in our lungs, there is hope for a better future. We can begin making choices that will pave the way for a bright future and we can stop making choices that will steal opportunities and richness down the line.


As one song says, "You are more than the choices that you've made, you are more than the sum of your past mistakes, you are more than the problems you create, you've been remade."


What joyous and incredible news! Through Christ and through taking initiative to mend our brokenness and overcome our issues one by one, we can truly be made new.


I hope this encourages you today.

0 comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...