what do you see behind you?

I think where we are going is very closely linked to where we think we have come from. while we are often told to leave the past in the past... that is really not very realistic or very easy to do... besides... the past experiences... whether positive or negative.. are what made you who you are today...

my thought is... we need to change the way we VIEW the past... surely we have all had bad experiences in our lives... but whatever the past holds for you... instead of being bitter and angry... instead of saying that I will never let that happen again... I will never let anyone close to me... how about we see how far we have come since that experience and decide that instead of remembering the negativity... we will try to determine what we can learn from the situation and use it to help someone else in the future... that way.. the pain was not in vain... you are able to have compassion for someone else's trials... because you have lived it too...

I have someone very close to me who's husband had an affair and a child in the affair.. and she determined to forgive him and accept the child in their life... this also includes accepting the other woman and forgiving her too... now while my natural mind thinks she is an idiot... my spirit mind knows that she is right... and she is sacrificing her own feelings and comfort for the union that she is committed to and the institution of marriage and the raising of a child... it would be easy to say that the bible says you can leave someone who is unfaithful... (I know it... I have done it...)but how much stronger must your relationship with God be to stay in the marriage? you would have to have put God first... and through her situation... she has been able to have compassion for other women who's husbands have been unfaithful... or for a woman who has been unfaithful.. she is able to help her to see the hurt and betrayal that she has been putting her spouse through...

with me.. mine was violence... I would never wish what I lived through on anyone... but I can understand the feelings of the person and why she feels like she can't leave... someone who has not lived it cannot see why she can't leave... it is not physical, it is mental... or why these women keep choosing the same man in a different body... you have to have lived a situation to understand someone else's struggle...

so the next time that you want to shut yourself off and tell no one what you have lived through... allow God to use you to be someone with compassion for someone else.. through this process you will find your own healing and you will help another to heal also...

when I look back... instead of seeing all the trauma and pain and betrayal that I lived through... I now see the love of God carrying me through it... and out of it... and I am able to rejoice in my past sorrow because without God carrying me... I would still be in it... God is good ALL THE TIME...