If you really want to be free from the past…
6.20.22 If you really want to be free from the past…
Life is full of challenges, big and small here on Earth. So often we just shove down the pain of each challenge and loss in our lives—after all that was easier for us to do as children when we didn’t know how to deal with them. But, unfortunately, shoving things way down into forgetfulness does not heal them or undo their influence in us. The best way to deal with pain is to grieve whatever we lost, like our innocence, our will, our standing with others and more, and then to see what lesson the challenge brings into our lives. What did we learn about ourselves? And what did that lesson point us to incorporate into our lives?
Once we have seen the lesson gained in the challenge, then we are ready to face life in a new way. We are also releasing the pain and suffering to God and asking Him to heal this issue in us. As we do that with more and more issues, as well as the sins we have done, we will begin to feel a new lightness in us, a change in how we look at life. We might ever go so far as to connect with other people who have been through the same things. This is how these challenges and even pain, once healed, can point us to helping others going through similar pain. I read about a mother who raised a disabled daughter who finally graduated from college in her mid-thirties. Then her mother turned to help couples with disabled children. Or think of the former alcoholic who is not supporting people in AA. For who do we turn to when we feel challenged beyond our capabilities—the person “who’s been there, done that.” If we turn to someone who is not familiar with our problem, we will probably be confronted with “shoulds” from a person who knows nothing of our issue.
If you really want to be free from the past and present to God and to what is happening now—here are some questions we have to address. I would suggest journaling about them.
- What challenge/disaster/loss was the worst for me in my life? What did I learn from going thru that about myself, about life, about God?
- What did that lesson propel me to do? What benefit did resolving the pain bring to me?
- Has that brought me to my purpose? Am I giving back to others the lessons I have learned from that experience?
- What brings me joy in my life, not momentary happiness, but lasting joy? How do I share that with others?