By Nancy Virden (c)2023

Looking back with sentiment is healing if we learn and grow from past experiences. Otherwise, looking back can be devastating and threatens to hold us forever. Lot’s wife looked back in longing for what was gone. How many times do we do that? Hers is a testimony to the price of missing the possibilities of a new day.

Looking forward changes our question from Why, to What now?

I know people stuck in the past. I was one of them. Forever a victim, and blaming everyone else for my shortcomings, held me in a tight bond. I hope if that is happening to you, insight will come. For me, it took serious consequences before my eyes would open.

Then it was heartbreaking to see how much time I had wasted, and how much bitterness had turned my heart. I had kept my eyes on Jesus and only sometimes blamed God, but my heart was far darker than I could admit.

Luke 11:35 warns, “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness.” I needed better light.

Light comes from Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Start there and read the Holy Bible. I was years past that first step and needed professional help to guide me to the next. That was agreeing to become self-aware and not argue away flaws that I saw. In other words, kill pride.

The third step is an ongoing openness to what God’s Spirit has to say. He teaches me through his Word and I am choosing each day to follow the instructions of the Creator of life. A recent example is, I need to improve my health. I asked God to speak to me in His Word about it. I opened the Bible and found in the book of Numbers where ancient Israelites, bored with their food, complained about wanting meat. God sent them quail and they all got sick. Considering he warned them, they spent three days in the hot desert gathering these dead birds, so we know why they got ill.

The story reads, “Their sickness came because they gave in to their cravings.” I am now determined to avoid cravings and not give in to them. This was his warning to me. I’ve been on diets before but my motive has been to get healthy or thinner. This time, my motive is to obey God’s plan for my life and I think (hope) I will be faithful to that.

Make sure the light you think you have is not actually darkness. Ask, What now? Then move wisely.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

John 8:12

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or for a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. In no way is this website intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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