Where Have We Been?

We cannot see where we are, because we are unwilling to face where we’ve been.

This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. What does my past have to do with where I’m going? Yes, I understand that I didn’t just appear on the earth this way, but can’t I just let “bygones be bygones” and get on with my life? Why do I have to go back to those places in my life that I tried so hard to get away from?

The truth is, we don’t know who we are, because we’ve believed the lies that have assaulted us all of our lives. One by one, the fiery darts of the enemy have come to bring us down, and one by one, we’ve become numb to their sting, but this deep desire within us still burns, and the pain that comes from that unfulfilled longing is perhaps the hardest to ignore.

The only way we will ever fulfill that longing is to be free from our past, our pain, and the lies of the enemy, and the only way to be free from our past is to go through it. God, in His wisdom, knew that we would experience pain in our lives, so He gave us ways of survival that shut out overwhelming experiences so we could deal with them later, when we’re able to safely and more accurately process through them. So many of us never went through our past the first time around. Now we have to play catch-up, and that’s not easy, especially if it involves significant trauma like abuse or abandonment.

At least for most of us, even the thought of facing our past can be overwhelming and terrifying. If it’s not, consider yourself blessed and highly favored. But facing our past, and replacing the lies we’ve believed with God’s truth, is an essential part of the journey. God is a timeless God and can go back to those places of hurt in our lives and bring healing to them, even decades later, removing each and every one of those fiery darts and setting us free to live the life He’s destined for us.

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