“Just do your best, and pray that it’s blessed, and Jesus takes care of the rest.”- Keith Green
“You can’t drive forward by looking in the rearview mirror.”- Anne Graham Lotz
In Chapter 3 of The Wall Around Your Heart, Mary DeMuth discusses four ways to revere God in the way we handle our difficult relationships. The first way is presented today.
1. Stop rehashing the past. Mary firmly states that we don’t revere the name and otherness of God when we constantly replay the pain we’ve experienced. Author and pastor Stephen Mansfield (Healing Your Church Hurt) cautions against the danger of maintaining that stance:
“You’ve been playing your bitter story over and over again in your mind. As you do, you keep hardening your feelings and deepening the wound each time you relive the jagged facts. Now you can do this for the rest of your life if you want. What will you be in a decade or two or three?”
May emphasizes that it’s perfectly alright to holler, rant, and vent our frustration to God. But we can’t stop there. We need to relinquish our anger and pain to Jesus. In that holy act, we are demonstrating to God that we’re more interested in being like Him than becoming an enemy to others.
Today’s question: What have you found to be most effective in helping you stop rehashing the past? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “From angst to alleluia”
