Let Go To Move Forward To Your Better Future

By Letting Go Of My Past I Gained A Wonderful Future

Leaving Your Past Behind

As an impulsive young adult I desperately wanted to leave my past behind.

By fulfilling my passionate lifetime future, I had to face the fact that those closest to me thought I had gone mad.

Once I met full-time missionaries, I got very excited when they shared this verse with me:

New King James Version Bible
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.‘ 2 Corinthians 5:17

I boldly declared, “Old things have passed away! I am a NEW creature!”

Obstacles Affecting Your Future

It was true but…

My biggest obstacle was my family, who wanted me to stay, when I wanted to go.

Saying goodbye to them was the hardest thing I could do…so…I decided to board a bus beginning my three day, four night travel from Perth to Sydney, across Australia.

I didn’t realize the implications.

In hindsight it was not the wisest thing to do.

Abandonment To Realize Your Goal

My trip to Sydney lead to my flight to the Philippines where I eventually met my husband.

After nine years, I returned to my family in Perth, both married and pregnant. I didn’t receive the welcome I was hoping for.

Realizing The Damage

When I realized the damage I had caused, we made plans to travel over the plain to Sydney.

Our initial plan to stay for ten days was interrupted due to a transport strike, forcing us to remain for five weeks. It was so taxing on me as I was desperate to leave.

While waiting to depart for Sydney by train, I burst into tears in front of my parents observing me through the window.

They naturally perceived this emotional outbreak of sorrow, departing once again. But in reality my tears fostered anxiety due to the departure time delayed by one minute.

Health Conditions Resulting From Anxiety

My mid life cancer crisis confronted me to address my past traumas, specifically my childhood and teen years.

Multiple health conditions developed resulting in surgical procedures, one after the other.

While recovering I did some deep reflecting to review my past using re-framing from an adult’s view overriding my childish emotional view.

Spiritual Interception

An epiphany taught me a lesson from the Bible from ‘the potter’:

‘Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.’ Jeremiah 18:3-4 NJKV

A gentle light filled my mind, opening a new thought pattern on my past.

I envisioned Jesus appearing at the potter’s wheel, holding a mottled lump of clay in His hands. I saw the clay was dry, cracked, lumpy and discolored.

My instinct was to throw it out but…I recognized it as my past with a touch of my present.

Epiphany

I watched His tears releasing the moisture needed to transform the clay.

As I watched Him quietly, I heard Him sing a new song. As a child I wouldn’t have understood these lyrics. Yet, as an adult I understood it clearly. It’s transforming, mesmerizing and transformative power shaped this new pot.

This new elegant pot was much stronger and more useful. It oozed gentleness and wisdom, as though it had a myriad of stories to share with the world.

My remade pot spoke of a new tale, woven from my traumatic past into a meaningful future.

I allowed the butterfly to be released from the suffocating cocoon.

As a result, I learned to fly.

Abandonment transformed into commitment, my shame to honor and betrayal to loyalty.

Life On Earth For Jesus

I’ve read that Jesus experienced these emotions personally during His life on earth.

• He was betrayed by a friend: Psalm 41:9, Matthew 10:4

• And He was shamed on the cross: 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 12:2

• Then He was abandoned on the cross: Matthew 27:46

My Commitment

As Jesus on earth experienced these emotions, so have I.

My new vessel has been refilled with new commitment.

Fresh loyalty and honor to Him who loved me enough to use my past to re-create me into a new creature.

With fresh eyes having seen my past, I now embrace all that I experienced made me who I am today.

My new vessel is what Jesus seemed good to make for me.

What can you take from your past to benefit your future? Call on an Epiphany for help like I did. Embrace what He has to show you..

Everything Has Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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