Tuesday, May 14, 2013

By: Rachelle Hitt Bilbo

Stop Rehearsing It

Isaiah 43:18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past...

About two months ago, my little boy came home from daycare with a scratch from the top of the corner of his eye to the crease of his mouth.

He was injured while playing a game dubbed as "tiger." The little boys in his class would growl at each other and laugh. One "tiger" took it a little further and scratched my son.

He still has a faint scar on his face, but that is not the ONLY reminder of the incident. Anytime he sees a tiger, hears that child's name, meets someone new or just "feels" like it, he TALKS about the incident. He has "rehearsed" this offense so much that he now dreams about it. I was awoken recently by him babbling the child's name and the word tiger.

My husband and I have agreed that we can no longer allow our son to talk about this incident. He'll never get over this PAST offense if he doesn't stop REHEARSING it!

So often, we "rehearse" the past mistakes of others OR our past mistakes over and over again that we can never get over it and move on!

Have you ever attempted driving forward by looking in the rear-view mirror? You'd probably crash or remain idle! In the same way, when we are constantly looking back and reliving the past, we are either unable to move forward or destined for MORE devastation.

Certainly, we should all have a few confidants in our lives that we can go to with anything. However, if they are Godly confidants, at some point, they too should encourage you to move forward rather than wallowing in the past.

Likewise, some people choose to "live in the past" because it actually represents a BETTER time in their lives. Even in this, God encourages us to move forward because He has even GREATER things in our futures.

In Isaiah 43, He describes all the marvelous miracles that He performed yet in verse 18-19, He says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" 

I challenge you today to learn from your past-good or bad-but don't live there. When we choose to stop rehearsing and recreating our past, we are able to move forward to the awesome future we have in God.

Dear Lord, Help me to leave my past behind so that I can obtain ALL that You have to offer.

I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.