| The
section on Divine Health contains the following links:
Healing
Healing
Your Past
Healing
Year by Year
Hurts
in the Womb
Early
Childhood
The
Teenage Years
Early
Adult Years
Middle
Adulthood
The
Twilight Years
Healing
the Generations
Healing
Prayers
Pray
It Forward
Pray
it Forward Prayers
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The
following reflections are taken from the writings of Bob and Debbie Gass
in The
Word for Today, a FREE daily devotional and of tremendous value to
have to hand each day.
Healing
your past – Part 1
" DON’T KEEP GOING OVER
OLD HISTORY…I AM ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING BRAND-NEW" Isaiah 43 :
18 (TM)
Cremate your past – don’t
embalm it! Dr Harold Bloomfield writes: “Unresolved emotional pain wreaks
havoc on your immune system, cardiac function, hormone levels and other
physical functions. We must make peace with our past, because our life
may literally depend on it!” Challenging words! Here are four suggestions
for dealing with your past:
-
reframe it. Ask yourself, “How
did it make me stronger? What do I know now that I didn’t know then?” Be
a learner, not a loser
-
break the shackles of shame.
Shame isn’t feeling bad over what you’ve done, it’s feeling ashamed of
who you are. It’s lethal! When God created you in His image He said, “I
like it! It’s very good.” (See Genesis 1:31). Start agreeing with Him!
-
arrest the acid drip of regret.
Stop punishing yourself with the ‘if onlys’. David said, “Happy is the
person whose sins are forgiven…whom the Lord does not consider guilty…”
(Psalm 32:1-2 NCV). Forgive yourself, God has! When He looks at you through
the finished work of Calvary, you look better to Him than you do to yourself!
-
move from grief to gain. Healing
takes time, so expect some anger, fear, and sadness. Don’t disown them
– they’re part of the healing process. But don’t adopt them either; know
when it’s time to move on. You can’t walk backwards into the future, and
the future God has for you contains more happiness than any past you can
remember!
Healing
your past – part 2
" I HAVE PLANS…TO GIVE
YOU THE FUTURE YOU HOPE FOR. " Jeremiah 29 : 11 (TM)
Three further suggestions:
-
practise acceptance. While working
in the Congo as a missionary, Helen Roseveare was brutally raped. Later
she said, “I must ask myself the question, ‘Can I thank God for trusting
me with this experience, even if He never tells me why?’” The secret of
trust doesn’t lie in answers, it lies in acceptance! It’s knowing that
in the midst of whatever has happened, is happening or will happen – God’s
in control! Either you fix your mind on that and determine to laugh again,
or you whine your way through life complaining that you never got a fair
deal
-
bury the past or live with its
ghosts. Rehashing old hurts is like watching the same movie over and over
again, hoping for a different ending. Learn from it and move on. You don’t
drown by falling into the water; you drown by staying there!
get out of ‘the blame game’.
Blame is a waste of time! When you blame yourself, you multiply your guilt,
rivet yourself to the past and decrease your already low self-esteem. When
you blame God, you cut yourself off from your single source of power, doubt
replaces trust and you put down roots of bitterness that make you cynical.
When you blame others, you enlarge the distance between them and you, losing
the only option that works – forgiveness.
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