Someone near and dear to me is in the throes of planning the most important day of her life – her wedding. As I’ve been helping in little ways, memories of when I was in that season of my life have flooded back from the not-so-distant past a few years back. While our day was beautiful and special, and God’s presence was with us, there are some aspects of the planning and of the day itself that I wish I could change, and it still hurts me to think of those things. Why does my heart still get a little angry or a little sad when I think about those details that I can’t change? Some of those hurts may even be the cause of strained relationships I’ve had with those surrounding the memories, causing me to act less than Christ-like.
As followers of Christ, we are not left powerless to change those situations. While the moments may have passed and it is too late to redo them, it is never too late to allow Jesus to heal, restore, and redeem those broken places. Those sore spots have been left open too long, and they need to be deep-cleaned of the debris that’s been packed in on top for us to fully heal.
Thankfully, our Jesus paid a heavy price so that we could be healed and set free. So I am asking Him to come and clean me out and help me to let go of how I feel about those situations I can’t change. I am ready to forgive and move on, and Jesus is holding out his hands to me saying “don’t look back, I have something better for you.”
Every day we can let the Lord clean us out of the new layers of grime that have deposited on our hearts; we don’t have to wait until they become huge, open wounds. We can pray like David did:
“Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps 139:23-24
We can forgive and be forgiven like Jesus told us to in The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:11-12:
“Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
And then we can wait, and forgive, and receive, and heal in the presence of our loving God.
I used to get so sad and jealous of others when I saw their engagement and wedding photos, because I was so hurt from that time in my life. It took me years, but God definitely rewrote my history so I can look back and tell my story with joy instead of bitterness 🙂
You totally get what I mean, then! God always has good things for us, but not always in our timing or on our conditions.