Chapter 4: “God Promises Hope for my Future Despite the Pain of My
Past”
Moving Forward with God by My Side
I was definitely not expecting a quick 15 minutes with God
to turn into the beginnings of a healing for my past hurts; but thank you Lord
for making me available for another #divineappointment with You! And thank you, Melissa for your story and for
awakening the hurts in me that seem so much easier to hide away than to deal
with... My prayer is that I along with all my other P31 OBS friends continue to
open ourselves up to our SELF so that we can truly embrace all that God wants
to give us: His Love…
Faith
looks back and draws courage; hope looks ahead and keeps desire alive.
John Eldredge and Brent Curtis
#MovingForward
doesn’t mean that we just ignore our past or don’t deal with
it. What is means is that we choose not to let it hold us back. – Melissa
Taylor
The Samaritan woman realized that Jesus KNEW her. He knew
her better than she knew herself. He knew her past; He knew how her past was
affecting her life currently and when she sought Him, he told her about
herself.
Just like the woman at the well, Jesus knows us – better than
we know ourselves. He knows why we act the way we do and feel what we feel and
respond to others the way we do in our present lives. Most importantly, when we
seek Him, He will “…open the eyes of our hearts so that we may know the hope to
which he has called us… (Ephesians 1:18)”
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the
city, and saith to the men,Come, see a man, which told me
all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the
city, and came unto him. – John 4:28-30
The most exciting part about this story for me is that she LEFT HER WATERPOT!
What if the Samaritan’s waterpot symbolized her spirit? She
had to return to the well daily to fill it up with what she thought she needed. For her, maybe her
spirit longed for attention or the need to feel loved. For me, one of my water pots represents
validation from others (as I walk through “A Confident Heart,” I’m learning
that my past is filled with many waterpots).
Jesus is sharing with us that we no longer need to carry
around our waterpots searching to continuously fill them up. We can leave that
old waterpot right in the past where it belongs and He can fill us with what we
really need:
His Love. His Peace. His Validation.
#SomethingToShoutAbout
“But
he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed.” Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
God wants us to accept the gift that he gave us through
Jesus Christ and come to fully appreciate all that Jesus did on that cross for
me and for you. It’s only when we recognize those things of our past that are
holding us captive, that we can be totally free in Christ.
…but it doesn’t end there…
After we’ve come to
understand our past. After we’ve accepted our past. After we’ve received peace
from God…
We must remember that our God “…who comforts us in all our
troubles, [has done so in order] so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves receive from God.
1 Corinthians 1:3-4
My Prayer
Lord, thank you once
again for peeling back another layer of what we thought what was us to see who
we REALLY are. Thank you for making your Word plain and thank you for loving us
despite all of our sins. Help us to “open the eyes of our hearts” to bring Your
truth to the lies we’ve been living through Your Word. Help us to accept who we
REALLY are in order that we might be free and help others to become free. Help
us to all continue #movingforward in freedom with you. In Jesus’ name I pray…Amen.
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