Choices

As we step into a brand new year, and a brand new decade, may I challenge you to take a huge step? May I challenge you to let go of past hurts? May I challenge you to leave them in the past year and refuse to take them with you into the new year and into the new decade?

Many of us have been wronged. And those wrongs keep coming up and haunting us. We want to see those wrongs made right! We want to set the record straight! We want those who gossiped to be exposed so that everyone knows how much of a trash-talker they are! We want people to know the truth about those hypocrites who promised to keep a secret and then told others, and they didn’t even tell the truth but instead told a twisted lie! We want people to know how we were wronged and hurt! We’re tired of carrying around the pain of people looking at us as though we were the ones who did something wrong! And maybe most of all, we want our friends who turned against us to know the truth, and we’d like for them to finally feel some shame for rejecting us when we needed them the most!

We are hurting inside and no matter how much we try we can’t get over it. It’s like a constant dripping of acid that keeps eating away at our insides. It burns our stomach, it eats at our heart, and it keeps playing over and over in our minds until all we can think about is how unfair it is and how nice it would be to set the record straight.

Have I just described you? Actually, I just described me. I also described people I love very much. Here is what I have found helpful to deal with the pain and anger.

I have to make a conscious decision that I’m not going to continue living with that baggage. I have to force my mind to focus on other things. The Bible tells us in Philippians 3:13 to forget our past and focus on the future. How do I force myself to focus on the future? I have found memorizing Bible verses to be the greatest help. Here are some that gave me a great starting point: Philippians 4:8; Joshua 1:8-9; Psalm 119:11; Jude 1:24; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:37-39; Romans 8:32.

I also found two friends whom I call and ask to pray for me. These men will never repeat what I tell them.

And finally, I write it on a piece of paper and then tell God that I’m tired of carrying around this baggage. I read it out loud to God, telling Him that I recognized that His Son Jesus paid the price for me to be free from that hurt, and that I’m giving it to Him so that I don’t have to carry it any longer. I then burn that piece of paper, and as the paper burns up I tell myself that I’m free from that pain.

From that point on when that hurt comes to mind I remind myself that I’ve taken care of it and that I’m moving forward. Then I go back to quoting the Bible verses that I’ve memorized. If it still won’t go away I call my friends and have them pray with me.

Romans 8:37 (NLT) "despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."

My prayer is that you will make the choice to leave your hurts in the past and not bring them with you into this new year.