[notice]A fortnightly column on marriage, family and relationships.[/notice]
“The problem with you is that you keep on rewinding and rewinding the movie. You do not let it play till the end.”
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These were the words from my daughter to her younger brother in the car on our way home the other day.
My younger son had asked if when he got home he can watch TV on the new explorer. They have been having a bit of competition between the two of them because viewing the explorer means that you can go to different channels and record your favourite channels to watch them at your convenience.
As they continued to have their little debate on who should watch TV when we got home my mind was meditating on what my 10 year little girl said, “but the problem with you is that you keep on playing the same scenes over and over again without letting the movie play to the end.”
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I thought of the many different ways that people press the “rewind button” in their lives.
Isn’t that what we do in life whether it is in our own relationships with ourselves or relationships with other people?
We think about the past over and over again to the point where it hinders us. We go back and relive the past. Reliving the past and going through a certain particular scene in our life we find that for many years that one thing holds us in bondage.
Maybe it was something traumatic that hinders you from moving forward in life. You are not letting the rest of the movie of your life play because you keep on reliving the traumatic moment.
Maybe you experienced betrayal, hurt, loss — whatever it maybe it has had the power over your life for many years and you cannot seem to shake it off.
It is affecting not only progress in your life, but it is affecting how you relate to others.
It might have been something that has happened in your marriage — in your family — that has made it impossible to trust again, to believe people in your life again.
Maybe members of your family betrayed you. In one particular scene maybe somebody walked out. You expected support from certain individuals and that support did not come. You felt let down. You felt rejection….
If you do not let go, if you do not truly forgive and let God carry the burden, you will not get to finish the full movie of your life — the glorious destination that God has for you.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 – for I have good plans for you, plans to give you hope and a future. You will never experience those glorious plans and really allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to lead you and to guide you into many beautiful experiences, if you keep on rewinding to traumatic, haunting memories from your past.
He has people in your life. He has other characters in this movie of your life that He wants to introduce, but if you go back to what has happened in your past you will not finish the rest of the movie.
You will not get to the climax of the movie because you are stuck on repeat.
Many people lead lives of constant routine. Let the movie of your life play. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you. He loves you so. No eye has seen. No ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.
No eye has seen what God has prepared for you. You have not seen it yet. Allow God to introduce you to the rest of your life. It is always said the rest of your life will be the best of your life.
How can you even enjoy and experience the rest of your life when you keep on going back?
It might have been something good you keep returning to. You know sometimes we get stuck on past achievements that we thought were fantastic and we do not want to let go.
God can never really work in your life until you let go, until you trust Him with your all. He can never really work in your life until you release everything to Him.
Let go and let God transform you into the person — into the glorious leading lady that you can be, into the glorious leading man that He has destined you to be. And when you do that you will find yourself having the movie that is not necessarily a fairy tale but a movie of your life that will be an inspiration to others.
If you have to look at your past, be like David. When he was faced with a giant he remembered that God had delivered him from a lion and a bear and if God was faithful then then surely God was going to deliver him from Goliath.
When you look back, do so to gain strength from the lessons learnt…the lesson in the story of David was that God can be trusted and God was with him and will continue to be with him. .
Whether you remember your past with fondness or regret, learn the lesson to equip you for your tomorrow. Do not give the devil any authority over your life by listening to his tempting voice constantly making you relive your past.
He is the one who likes to focus on the past. He is the accuser of the brethren always reminding saints of their sins and weaknesses. God wants us to focus on our future.
Leave the remote control of your life to God. He knows which movie must be played for the story of your life. The Master knows the twists and turns of your story and will bring you to the end.
I pray for better. I pray for growth. I pray for the fast forward buttons of your life as we enter into 2017.
May you enter with a fresh boldness of saying “I am here Abba. I cannot wait to see what you have planned for me this year. I will not go back to how it was. Forgetting what is behind. I press on towards the goal of the high calling of Jesus Christ.”
Press the onward button….
SHALOM!!!!
