Just Can’t Remember

I had one year recently that was significantly not a good year for me.
I hardly use the word bad for anything, I mean I usually don’t apply negativism to anything that concerns me.
Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of things that year that made me laugh and smile, my loved ones and friends were ever so good to me. God is ever faithful and I can remember being in a healthy place because I had a personal trainer and loads of energy. I may have overdone it a bit though because in the Autum of the same year all the planks and sit ups made my abdominal muscles give way and a long standing hernia that had not given me any trouble got me to be rushed into hospital for an operation. It was the year I decided to get back to writing. In the midst of my personal trouble and struggles the only thing I knew that I could give was a part of me through words. Capturing how I was overcoming continuously the things that were causing me intense discomfort became a way of release.
I decided long ago not to keep records of pain, I felt based on biblical principles it was not right to do so but also, I had, in the past, read negative things in my journals and had found myself feeling uncomfortable, sometimes even weeping for that person who had gone through those tough experiences and many times, forgetting that that person had been and was actually me. As a consequence I changed to keeping journals of success,testimonies,prayers and hope. It has taken a while to ’get over myself ‘-as I put it. I preach this like a sermon now-that trouble will bother you for as long as it takes for you to get over yourself.
I tell you this, whatever it is that made that year not a good year for me is quite vague now. I can’t remember details and don’t want to. To move on to higher ground we need to realise it is okay to forget unpleasant times.
This forgetting does no nullify anything, it rather empowers, protects and propels. It does not demean what someone has gone through but rather strengthens you and reminds you that God is able, He can do anything, can change anything.
Forgetting does not ignore where one has come from, it encourages you to see where you are and where you are going. It removes the unhealthy fixation on things that are in the past and have passed and pushes you towards the glorious things ahead.
I used to struggle with forgetting, not because I wanted to hold on to bad and sad memories but because I wanted so much to hold on to good ones. It is a desirable skill to be able to carefully select what one remembers, opening a book of remembrance to bless people and give thanks to God, not to sink oneself in sorrow, regret and the human desire to demand for a harvest from others. The bible remains my standard in all things, we must remember what is ahead is far better than everything in the past. Herein lies your peace.
So I choose to forget everything that has held me down, wounded me, negated me or embarrassed me. I let go of the bad things people have done to me, the mistakes they have made, the mistakes I have made and do not use them as an excuse.
I learn from my past simply to help my future and the future of others but I do not dwell on it , magnify it or revel in recalling it to my detriment.
And when it comes to unpleasant things this past includes yesterday, one hour ago and one minute ago.

Philippians 3:13-14 King James Version (KJV)
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 43:18-19 New International Version (NIV)
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Haggai 2:9 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

Please Be Encouraged,
SisBee. x