new creature

I had a conversation with a friend today. We talked about some really, really hard things in her past and how they are impacting her now. She has tried to just ‘forget it” and move on. But that never works in the long term.

I’ve had other friends who have struggled with similar issues. I think one of the hardest things is once one comes to Jesus they think He will take it all away…all the pain, all the memories, everything. I think it is that ‘new creature’ thing. Old creature yesterday, new creature today.

I know, from my own past experience, that continuing to carry pain from the past stole energy and joy from my life. It kept me from being who God wanted me to be. Obviously, I wanted God to just remove it, so I could get on with doing His will. What I realized was that there was beauty held within those ashes. I just couldn’t see it because I was so intent on pretending it wasn't there, pretending it wasn’t a problem for me. But my life circumstances would say something different. There was a lack of freedom, a lack of living life wholly.

I laid down my weapons and my armor and went in to counseling. I shared honestly about my childhood and I also shared about how I saw that past impacting my present and possibly, my future. It was a difficult process – like cleaning out a wound that had become infected, but the poison was coming out. And out in the open it wasn’t as toxic as it had been held inside. It lost its power over me and I found myself freed to become more of the woman, the wife and the mom God wanted me to be.

For those of you struggling with issues from the past, give yourself the gift of counseling to work through it. Jesus wants to meet you in the midst of your pain. He wants to show you that He can carry you through it…not around it but through it. It requires courage and trust. I invite you to experience that outrageous trust as you pursue new life…to discover that God is powerful enough to heal you…that you can be becoming a new creature through the process.

Grace and Peace,
Deb