Foggetabutit

Isaiah 43:16-21

Our past is something that both makes us who we are as well as reminds us who we can be.

Those who know how I lived my life during the first 12 or so years of adulthood will agree that it's truly amazing I'm on the verge of receiving a seminary degree, let alone still alive. I did many things I have regrets doing, but have no regrets in doing them. The decisions I made helped me to understand why people make those same decisions, but those decisions also made my life much more difficult than it needed to be.

The decisions I made hurt my health and kept me from having any sort of financial savings. I hurt others along the way as well, close friends, family, and those who really believed in me. In fact, there's a memory I have of one person actually telling me, after finding out I was a user, that he used to look up to me, but now he doesn't know how he can believe in me any more.

Those days are gone. The person I used to be is no longer who I am. I have found a way to put that life away for good and begin living a life for others through the love of God. I haven't forgotten who I used to be, that person is a part of who I am. Instead I use the memories of that person to walk with others who are traveling down that same road.

God has made a new way for me, forged a river through the desert, if you will, so that I could be the person God intended me to be. I know deep in my heart God is doing the same for you.