Leaving the Past Behind
Download MP3Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine encouragement. This is Joy in Every Step with your host, beloved preacher, retired teacher, and faithful walking through the valleys or dancing on the mountaintops, Sarita's voice will guide you back to his promises step by step. So open your heart, settle your spirit, and take the next step in faith with joy in every step.
Sarita Bernadette:Hi, I'm Sarita Bernadette. Welcome back to Joy in Every Step. Many of us find ourselves at a crossroads of some sort right now. Right about now we are thinking about starting something new or we already have started something new perhaps. In the first couple of episodes, I shared some words of support and encouragement for those of us who are moving towards something new.
Sarita Bernadette:And if we're being honest, making moves towards something new is both exciting and terrifying, right? At the same time, I want to spend a few minutes talking about one of the things that gives us pause when we find ourselves faced with doing something new. One of the things that holds us back is leaving the past behind. So that's what I want to talk about today, leaving the past behind. And what I mean here just to be clear is simply this, letting go of past experiences and moving forward.
Sarita Bernadette:Letting go of past experiences, the bad and the good, and focusing on what's ahead. Letting go of what we've become comfortable with is hard, really hard. Change is hard. When you've been in a place for a long time, it can be extremely difficult to leave there. Go with me for a moment.
Sarita Bernadette:The mere thought of making a move and leaving the place you know and sometimes love can cause one to become anxious and even fearful. Letting go of what has worked for us, what has brought us comfort and stability can be unsettling. Interestingly, it can be hard to move out of a comfortable place and it can be equally difficult to move from an uncomfortable place. Yes, you heard that right. I found that even where you are is no longer working, it's still hard to imagine not being there.
Sarita Bernadette:In any event, change is hard. American psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety. I'm going to make a radical statement right here: safety can be deceptive and dangerous. Remaining in a place that has become predictable and easy to navigate can and will stunt your growth. I will go so far as to say, by not moving, you risk missing what has been planned for you.
Sarita Bernadette:If you ignore the call, or for some of us, the calls, plural you may just miss moment. We do not want that. When God calls us to move, we have to leave the past in the past and be on our way. There's a fine example recorded in the Word of God that we can glean from. In the eleventh chapter of Genesis, we're introduced to Abram, his father and his brother and his wife as well.
Sarita Bernadette:We also read that his wife Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. This story has sounded familiar to somebody out there. We see Abram's father gather the family up, and they leave Er where they were living, and they set out for Canaan. But we're told, when they came to Haran, they settled there. While we don't know Abram's exact age when he arrived in Haran, the Bible tells us that Abram was there until he was 75 years old.
Sarita Bernadette:75. I would say that's enough time to become very familiar with the environment, wouldn't you? He would have known the city pretty well, probably became familiar with his neighbors and their families, might've known where to go for all the supplies needed for survival at that time. You know, where to draw the best water, how to get his livestock what they needed, where to go for the barley and the wheat so it could be ground into flour for bread, where all the best grapes and pomegranates and olives and dates were. You get the picture.
Sarita Bernadette:He knew life in that region. I'm not saying it was easy, but since he was familiar with the area, it must have been fairly predictable. Listen, even when problems arose, he knew how to handle them in that place. Life wasn't easy, but it was manageable because he knew where he was. Familiarity is comforting.
Sarita Bernadette:Comfort zones allow us to move with a sense of confidence and pride like, Yeah, I know this place and I can handle and control things here. Sound familiar? Keep listening. In Genesis chapter 12, Abram has an encounter with God. It says, The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your native country, your relatives and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you.
Sarita Bernadette:I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.' So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 when he left Haran.
Sarita Bernadette:Abram takes his family and all his stuff and he heads for Canaan. Now you'll remember that when his father was alive, they had headed there, but they somehow got sidetracked and they wound up in Haran for a significant amount of time. So then the Lord speaks and he pushes him toward his destiny. Think about that part the next time you get sidetracked. So I ask this question here.
Sarita Bernadette:Has the Lord spoken to you and told you to get going? Has he told you to get up and move? Abram had no idea where he was headed when God spoke to him, but he knew enough to drum up some courage and go. God said, Go, and he went. He had to leave his past behind.
Sarita Bernadette:The place he knew, the place he was familiar with, the people he knew, and those he had come to rely on and support for companionship. For support and companionship. And from what he read, Abram wasn't just leaving behind a few belongings. He had a significant amount of wealth in family yes, family is wealth wealth in possessions and wealth in livestock. So he may have been inclined to respond with, I have what I need here, God.
Sarita Bernadette:I'm comfortable in this place. I'm good. But Abram again drummed up some courage and started making moves. He left his past behindthe bad and the good. We must be willing to put the negative and the positive behind us and move forward into the future.
Sarita Bernadette:As you read on in chapter 12 of Genesis, you see that Abraham moved on into Canaan, and wherever he stopped, he set up an
Sarita Bernadette:altar. In other words, he paused and he took time to thank God for his journey and his promises. Was his journey perfect? No. But it was blessed.
Sarita Bernadette:It was blessed. God continued to enrich Abraham's life, and eventually He changed his name to Abraham. The Bible records in Genesis 17, When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'I am the Almighty God. Walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect that is blameless, wholehearted, complete. And I will make My covenant, solemn pledge, between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.
Sarita Bernadette:Hear me with your spirit, believers. Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, As for me, behold, my covenant solemn pledge is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. Nor shall your name any longer be Abram, high exalted father, but your name shall be Abraham, father of a multitude, for I have made you the father of many nations, and I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. That's Genesis seventeen:one-six. Abram already had a good name.
Sarita Bernadette:I'm going to say that again. Abram already had been given a good name. Are you listening? It was high, exalted father. That's good, right?
Sarita Bernadette:But God added to Abram when he changed his name to Abraham, father of a multitude or father of many nations. I believe that that is indicative of how our God wants to add to the lives of his children. Yep, change is hard, but God works it out for our good. His math is always good. Listen, Abram believed in God's promises.
Sarita Bernadette:God promised to make him a great nation and that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. Though he was childless, God promised him descendants, and he believed. Wow. Because of his belief, Abraham became the father of the faithful. He was willing to leave his past behind and step into his destiny.
Sarita Bernadette:His life became a testimony for all of us, a testimony about a God who keeps his promises, a God who always has our best interests at heart. So in those moments of doubt, when you know you have to make that move, do it with confidence, trusting that the Father has already gone ahead and made the way for you. Know that whatever you are leaving behind doesn't compare to what God has stored up for you. Trust God in the process even when you don't know what the outcome is going to be. God is always up to something.
Sarita Bernadette:Isaiah 43 verses eighteen and nineteen reads, Do not call to mind the former things or consider things of the past. Behold, I am going to do something new. Now it will spring up. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
Sarita Bernadette:He's doing something new, my friends. He's doing something new that only God can do. And the only way you can get to it is to get moving and keep moving as he gives the instructions. Something deeply personal right here. My college experience, specifically my undergrad experience, epic.
Sarita Bernadette:It was a time when I was learning and growing and discovering so much about life that I really didn't want it to end. And I will be transparent and I will admit that I wasn't always doing what the Lord would approve of. I'll just say I had a wonderful time. When I say I didn't want it to end, mean that. I mean that.
Sarita Bernadette:I went so far as to apply for graduate school there at that same college and I wound up remaining there in my same room serving as a resident assistant as a grad student for another academic year. I just wasn't willing to let it go. I wasn't willing to leave it behind. Some years later while serving as an educator in an excellent school district with outstanding colleagues and an exceptional teammate and friend, I realized God had already set everything up long before I arrived. And that part of my life was equally wonderful and fulfilling.
Sarita Bernadette:It was awesome. My willingness to leave the past behind and move into my future had proven to be absolutely glorious. I have so many fond memories of those years right after college. It would take me all day to share them with you. I found a wonderful quote from Alan Wilson Watts.
Sarita Bernadette:It says, The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Leave the past behind, my friends. Plunge in, move, join the dance. Life makes a whole lot of sense when you look back on it. One final word from the wisdom of Ecclesiastes.
Sarita Bernadette:This is chapter seven verse 10. Do not say, why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise or because of wisdom that you ask this. The message version is even more direct than the amplified classic. It reads like this: Don't always be asking where are these good old days?
Sarita Bernadette:Wise folks don't ask questions like that. That has blessed me over the years. It also hits hard. It hits hard, especially when you've had some good old days. We can leave the past behind.
Sarita Bernadette:Let's leave the past behind and move forward with great anticipation. Friends, we need to get going with excitement and joy. Yes, joy. I've found that I'm able to do so when my heart is full of gratitude, when I'm thankful for the things God has already done, When I'm thankful for the things He's done in my life, I don't look back with longing, but with a tremendous amount of gratitude, and then I'm excited about what's ahead. Remember one Thessalonians five sixteen-eighteen.
Sarita Bernadette:It reminds us to always be joyful, never stop praying, and be thankful in all circumstances. It says, For this is God's will for those of you who belong to Christ Jesus. Thank you for listening today. You've been listening to Joy in Every Step. I'm Sarita Bernadette, and I'm grateful you chose to spend some time here with me.
Sarita Bernadette:You can find Joy in Every Step wherever you listen to your podcasts and give us a follow there. Do check out the website at joyineverystep.org.
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