It’s Your Choice: Will You Release or Hold On to the Past?
ne of the young ladies I mentor as a part of our singles ministry has been through a lot. At 17 years old, she was raped by her stepfather and as a result, became promiscuous. Now that she’s 21 and is learning about her identity in Christ, she holds on to so much regret connected to her past choices. “I hate myself for some of the things I did,” she told me one day in one of our sessions while brushing away tears—the only trace of emotion on her stoic, hardened face.
“I’m just angry with myself,” her lip slightly trembled. “I have ruined my future and I’m scarred for life.” As she talked, I fought back tears. I knew exactly where she was coming from and what she was feeling. I could totally relate. Before God did a work on me (that didn’t happen overnight) I looked back on sexual choices, relationship decisions, and compromising situations I had put myself in and just cringed.
I’m going to be honest. I still have to rebuke certain thoughts rooted in shame and regret that try to creep up from time to time. I know that I am forgiven by God, so I have to make sure I don’t hold myself hostage and become a prisoner of my own guilt. Whenever the debt of my sinful past resurfaces, demanding to be paid, I have to declare Jesus paid it already!
2 Comments