Have you caught yourself reaching into the past, digging beneath what has been in the right now?

Yeah me too.

It is one of the most crippling thought-traps we can climb ourselves into.

It's almost like we imagine there is something under all the rubble that can revive a part of us. But let me tell you, life is not under the destruction. Life is in Jesus alone and the work that He is doing in your life right now.

...

So what do we do when life-changing circumstances haunt us even when time has passed and we're supposed to be over it already?

A relationship ends that was never envisioned to, a plan that was sure to see success fails miserably, a job that supported you abruptly hits a dead end.

It's almost on a daily basis that I currently find myself frozen in searching through moments leading up to the alteration. I think about what I could have been more aware of, what they could have done differently, what I could have deferred from happening, what situations should have looked a little different.

But man, do these things just paralyze us.

When I think on those things, I don't even notice until my emotions alert me. I find myself depressed, angry, defensive, selfish and most likely trying to hold back tears.

It's certainly not fun.

We cannot change what has been as hard as we try, as focused as we get, it has happened. And it is finished.

We're not here to take a journey into our past friends, we're here to journey into Jesus... and if Jesus happens to speak into our past, than that is in His goodness and by His choosing.

And I get it. I wonder "How was Jesus, as a good Savior, even in the situation?", but never have I ever had the Holy Spirit reveal something to me about my past when I am stuck in it and consumed by it.

He reveals to us answers about our past by His goodness which comes by us being consumed by Him, and Him right now. Being thankful for where we are in the moment even when we are having a hard time being thankful for what was will open the door to freedom.

Thankfulness takes us into deeper revelation, it takes us into His courts.

Being content in where He has brought us, what He is doing in us, and where He is leading us is where we find liberty. Then, the understanding that God desires us to have concerning our past will be made known to us by His Spirit and His Word.

We're not meant to know everything about our past, but we are meant to forever know more about Jesus. In this life posture, His goodness shines even through our past. He is the one who reveals what is necessary for further goodness to be brought about in our lives.

I'm sorry that you went through what you did.

I'm sorry that it echoes into your current life.

But I am thrilled for you; that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.

I am thrilled that, as you pursue Him today, that He will release even more of Himself into you.

I am thrilled that the power of Christ in us raises people from the dead and raises our weary hearts to life.

I am thrilled for you to experience the new life that He gives and the understanding that only His Spirit can bring.

You've got a victorious, beautiful, adventure-filled life ahead.