Freedom

This morning I heard from the radio two of my favorite songs for years, “What Might Have Been” and “Back for Good”. More than the nice tune, the songs also meant a lot to me because I always liked to reminisce about my past.

Today, I had another breakthrough. I caught myself not feeling the same way as the song goes. Today, I have lost some words in my vocabulary such as “past, gaya ng dati, what if”.


For years, God has always been dealing with me in this area of letting go of the past. In one preaching at church, the pastor said that even our past victories can stifle us from moving forward. I remember January 2005, I was afraid that God will no longer bless me for that year because He already answered all my 3 major faith goals in 2004. It’s good my leader and friends encouraged me that God is a progressive God that He will continue to bless us more than what we can ever imagine.
I checked my archive of personal emails and saw three of them referring to letting go of the past. Below are excerpts.

August 8, 2005 – Let Go of the Past ( A love letter from God)

“ I know, My child, I know. Your mind is often filled with hurtful things that happen to you. Sometimes you even say to people "You don't know how much it hurt Me when such and such happened." Well, I ask you again, does what happen to you in the past change the fact that Jesus loves you and died for you, and now you can spend eternity with Him in heaven? I don't have to wait for your answer, because I know immediately your mind said, "No!"

September 9, 2005 – The Same Old Baggage (By Ron Hutchcraft)
Now, that's what Jesus wants to do for you. He's got the power to do it. He wants to help you put the pain and paralysis of the past once and for all behind you. To take away your victim card and replace it with the one that says, "More than conquerors through Him who loved us."

He wants to help you to make today the day that you wrap up the past and put it in a book called Volume 1, and leave it on the shelf forever. Today is the beginning of Volume 2. A volume in which you release the hurt through forgiving the hurter, you release the sin through aggressive repentance, you release the worthless feelings by living like the masterpiece God created you to be. Unless, of course, you'd rather just keep watching the same old baggage go around and around for the rest of your life. Do you want to get well? If so, then the miracle is next.

October 10,2005 - The Joy of Facing Forward (By Ron Hutchcraft)
And God says, "If you keep dwelling on the past, you're going to miss the whole new thing I'm trying to do in your life!" This isn't living in denial - that means you've never faced the ugly things in the past, and frankly, there's no conquering them until you face them. But if you just keep dredging them up over and over, you're missing so much of what God wants to be doing in your life now.


Wow! Although it took months and years for God to liberate me from my past, from fears and doubts of stepping out in faith, it is worth the time and journey with Him who truly gives us freedom.