'Don't Get Stuck in the Past' by Mike Belgard

October 31, 2016 - Have you ever heard someone say, "If I did that I could never forgive myself." You may have this feeling because of  something that you have done. No matter what happens in your life from that point on you tend to always go back to that mistake as defining  point in your life. It not only affects what you think about yourself but what you think of others. 
                             
Have you ever gotten half way through with something, stepped back, and wished you could just start over? A lot of people feel that way about life. We wish we could cancel out all the mistakes, harsh words, and bad choices we have made. Some people have a real hard time letting go of the past. When I was kid growing up in Louisiana, we would go hunting in the marshes where the water was only a few inches deep but the mud was two feet. The water wasn't hard to walk through but you could easily get stuck in the mud underneath. Some people allow their past to be a lot like that marsh. Its not the things that they're dealing with on the surface that holds them back, but the things under the surface that have them stuck and keeping them from moving forward like they should.
                              
Jesus knows the things we have done wrong, but when we ask for forgiveness He doesn't hold it against us. John 3:17 says He didn't come into the world to condemn us but to save us. As a matter of fact, in Jeremiah 31:34 God tells the Israelite's that He "will remember their sins no more." Do you understand how great this is? The God of everything, who created us and everything we know, says he is going to forget our sins and mistakes! They are gone in His eyes. They do not exist. What mercy God shows us when we seek Him! He has actually chosen to forget our past mistakes. So why do we get bogged down in the events, and people in our past? The only One who matters says He forgets it. He is offering you a new beginning. A clean slate.
                              
So  knowing that, what's holding you back from that new life and the joy that comes with it? Probably your having trouble forgiving yourself. The devil will try to keep you stuck in the " mud" of your past by telling you that you will always be the person you were before. Don't you believe it. It is a lie. God tell us that we are made new when we trust Him. God has plans for you. He loves you and has great new things ahead for you. A new life. Your past is forgotten and your future is secure. Trust Him, let go of the past, and start being the new you that God wants you to be.