Remember Not

   Everyone on earth experiences emotional pain at some point in life. Sometimes it is so intense, it overshadows everything, and causes an inability to cope with life itself. Our human minds can handle a great deal, but some are more fragile than others. No one can handle all of life's hurts, without Christ's help.

   People hurt other people, whether intentionally or not. Intentional wounds are the hardest to deal with.

   When I was growing up, I was very sensitive, and easily hurt. In fact, I struggled with this for decades of adulthood.

   Now that I've passed into the age where I should be gaining wisdom, I recognize that I have helplessly absorbed words that God could have helped me repel. Hurtful words are like burning embers falling down upon a person. Even at 54, it takes effort for me to reject hurtful words, and in my mind, refuse to allow them to settle on me, and burn and bite and devour. My Heavenly Father has helped me greatly, in the past few years, to refuse to allow wounding words to linger, consuming me as they did in years gone by.

   The realization came to me slowly, that certainly with God's help, the misery I was living in could be changed. I had been greatly hurt, but silently simmering in that hurt year after year was only damaging me. I had a choice in this matter, if I was weary with living in pain.

   Oh, yes, I was so very weary with living in pain and resentment. I was so willing to let it all float away! I wanted peace so very much. I was tired of feeling unloved. I was also tired of remembering hurtful things I myself had said, years before. God had forgiven me, as had those I had asked forgiveness from. Yet I still hadn't forgiven myself. More heavy baggage. I needed to stop thinking about being unloved, and just begin to increase the love I was showing others. I needed to give, expecting nothing in return. I could not do this alone, but with God, all things are possible.

   Christ is my Saviour, and He has the power to change me.

   After all, God makes it very plain that we are not supposed to dwell in the negatives of the past. If our heads are always turned, looking back, how are we going to see the new joys ahead which our loving Father has planned for us?

    * Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43: 18,19

   If we are trying to walk with God, we can learn from all of our experiences with His help. Then we're to take our new wisdom with us, and leave the experience behind. It is foolish to try to drag everything along with us.

   When we eat peanuts, do we pick up all the shells when we're finished, and carry them with us in our pockets? Of course not. We throw them away.

   If there is a fire, and only one good thing remains, do we try to save all the ashes and burned timbers? Of course not. We pick up the one good thing, and move on, leaving the burned, useless things behind us.

   There is something in some of us which makes us want to carry all the old and useless baggage of life along with us. It is an unnecessary burden, and grows heavier with the years. Like in Pilgrim's Progress, our burden becomes very large, and hard to carry.

   Our loving God has good things ever before all of us, His beloved children. But, like a person who cannot see, we may miss some of them simply because we don't know they are there. Our thoughts are turned back, and our negative memories keep haunting us. So we move on past the joy and peace that God has ready for us, unseeing.

   Do we want to get rid of our heavy burden of hurt? If so, we must identify and cut away the negative from the positive. This can be more difficult than it sounds. Sometimes a mind can be like a kaleidoscope, with the bright colors and dark ones all swirled together, making no sense at all. We must discover which things are not good to keep dwelling in, and throw them off. We must lay down the staggering memories of pain, in order to become able to hold out our arms to Christ, and accept His gift of joy, of freedom from ourselves. How can we do this?

   Can we get rid of, or learn to "deal with" wounding memories without God's help? Not likely, though people spend untold amounts of money on psychiatrists, year after year, attempting to heal themselves. Certainly there are people who truly need this, in order to understand their own minds. However, pure and complete healing can only come from God.

   Having our anger and pain cleansed from us, is a holy gift. Each of us could claim this holy gift from God. He can do it in a flicker of an eye. God is able to do it, but first we must want Him to. He does not force Himself upon us. He waits, with a patience that humans could never have. He waits until we turn to Him and ask for help. He is always there, waiting to put out His mighty hand, and save us from our own destructive minds. His love is unmeasurable, ceaseless, intense, and glorious. He loves each one of His children as powerfully as though they were the only one. We can trust Him absolutely because we are His children, and He will never leave us. All we have to do is raise our eyes to Him. Just put out your hand to Him. He will help you.