Bitterness, the past, the pain... the Truth!

[Liamson]

Do any of you remember what it was like to love, to live in the moment, to see only the future?


Before YOU or someone or something invaded your life and took whatever innocence you had from you, there was a time, in my life and I assume in yours, where WE really believed that all of it was possible.

As if there was no past, as if there was no shame, no guilt, no pain, no hurt, no frustration, no fear and no doubt. We explored the world with innocent eyes and a care free heart. We did not carry the burdens we do now. There was no Debt, there was no guilt, there was no dark secret to hide in a box and bury inside of us.

Why can't we go back?

Why can't we just let it go and give it to God and leave it there?

Why can't we leave the past behind us and focus on everything wonderful and beautiful. Can we still see the greenest forest and imagine the possibilities?

Can we still genuinely have joy? Joy in the morning, like the beauty of the rising sun. Happiness that consumes the soul in the anticipation of a Hope is still there.

 

[Theygaveutheirworst]

Truer words couldn't have been spoken in this forum. Truth is a hard pill to swallow sometimes...

 

[brokenheart69]

It may seem like its trully trully hard to forgive and forget, but the time will come when in your christian walk you will see the beauty of letting go. Anger,frustration,dissapointmets,broken promisses, lost friendships,and bad relationships have weight me down long enough. Why I held on to all the trash I trully dont know, but I can say that Jesus has taken all of it away and I can stop and smell the flowers. Or enjoy the beauty of the picture you posted. All I can say (when possible) LEt GO and Let Jesus take it away.

 

[Jullianna]

Once eyes are opened in that way, we can't unsee or unfeel those things, and there are consequences, whether the mistakes were our own or someone else's...or no one's at all... What we CAN do is learn from them rather than allowing them to consume us and do more harm. They can and will if we allow it. Wisdom is very hard won.

When it happens to us it can seem like the worst thing ever. It isn't. The day comes when you see the same thing happen to your child and you grieve for their innocence lost far more than you ever grieved for your own.

You have a beautiful heart, Liamson. Don't lock it away.

 

[1still_waters]

You have a beautiful heart, Liamson. Don't lock it away.

Agreed dude.


I was surprised to see a post like this from you. Many of the posts I read from you seem very cerebral. Like nice tidy thought nuggets, nicely wrapped. Nothing wrong with that. But it is nice to see this more emotional side from you too. Or maybe you've shown that side and I haven't stumbled upon those posts.

 

[shawntc]

Fact of the matter is, society takes that blissful innocence away from us rather forcefully. As soon as you enter high school they start asking you what you want to do as a career. Really, asking someone who hasn't fully experienced the real world what they want to do in life? Then we are pushed into the workforce. If you're unlucky like me your first real job is fast food. Suddenly more responsibilities. Then there's deciding on colleges, car payments, housing, and so on. All the while you are becoming ever more aware of the opposite gender's attractive quality and the messed up world around you. The green turns to gray.

Could a person recapture some degree of that youthful innocence? Sure, to some extent. But it wouldn't be easy. It would involve placing a lot more trust in God to take care of us. Like a child simply assumes parents will provide for them. It would also necessitate cutting down on how much information you take in. "Ignorance is bliss."

 

[Oncefallen]

I've read that original post about a dozen times now, and have run a broad range of emotions every time I read it. I'm gonna have to chew on this for a bit.

 

[simplyme_bekah]

I have found that when these hard painful events happen in my life that is usually when I feel God very close by. He has given me that child like wonder to where I know and feel and see his beauty everywhere. When God is your savior I think that painful experiences are turned into something positive by becoming lessons that teach us and stretch us and build character. Pain is a great teacher. Normally when we go through something painful it makes us into people that can use it to help others. It gives us the heart knowledge and the experience to be of better use for our King. Hardship is a part of life. Good and Bad experiences are what I consider balance. Down in the valley is lesson time, it is the time we learn the most because normally it hurts. But it always always gives one the opportunity to trust God and to learn the lesson he has for us there. If you expect the valley and know in your heart that its time to learn a lesson then its so much easier to accept that sometimes life really really sucks kinda bad but that its okay because we never walk that path alone. God is always with us and for us. You don't feel sorry for yourself and you are able to let go of the bitterness and regret and anger and bad attitudes when you simply pray "please help me to learn this lesson you have for me" and then you thank him for the hardship. Mostly just let faith take over. It changes your whole outlook and attitude when you realize that ya know.

 

[Oncefallen]

I spent a lot of today thinking about this Liamson, and to a certain degree grieving. Unfortunately, I think almost everyone looses that childlike innocence at some point and time in life, however some of us lost it earlier in life, and even as adults some lose it to different degrees.

Some of us have seen, done, or experienced things that will be etched on our brains until the day our good Lord takes us home. Of course, I do believe that God uses those experiences to His glory if we let Him and likewise as we draw towards Him the pain and influences of those memories diminishes with time.

Bitterness and guilt, in my opinion, are choices. We can choose to be bitter or not, we can choose to carry guilt, or accept God's grace. Yes, I understand that sometimes forgiving ourselves can be one of the hardest things to do, but it is still a choice.

I can honestly say that although I've been through a lot in life that I wouldn't go back and change a thing if I could because looking back at them I can see how they have molded me, through God's grace, into the man I am today. I can understand and minister to people today that I never could have without those experiences.

 

[Liamson]

I spent a lot of today thinking about this Liamson, and to a certain degree grieving. Unfortunately, I think almost everyone looses that childlike innocence at some point and time in life, however some of us lost it earlier in life, and even as adults some lose it to different degrees.

Some of us have seen, done, or experienced things that will be etched on our brains until the day our good Lord takes us home. Of course, I do believe that God uses those experiences to His glory if we let Him and likewise as we draw towards Him the pain and influences of those memories diminishes with time.

Bitterness and guilt, in my opinion, are choices. We can choose to be bitter or not, we can choose to carry guilt, or accept God's grace. Yes, I understand that sometimes forgiving ourselves can be one of the hardest things to do, but it is still a choice.

I can honestly say that although I've been through a lot in life that I wouldn't go back and change a thing if I could because looking back at them I can see how they have molded me, through God's grace, into the man I am today. I can understand and minister to people today that I never could have without those experiences.

My post was inspired by reading C.S. Lewis's book 'The Great Divorce'

You can find it in PDF online. It moved me. I would more than highly recommend that you read it.

 

[GreenNnice]

When we embrace the Lord's way as should be our way, and, deposit the guilt and shame of our past mistakes, learning from them , having been honest with ourselves as we speak to God, letting Him indwelling in us lead our temple$ (bodies) forward, having pardoned our past from us, we then begin to see a richness of the present that God has for us. This present is filled with a blessed future too, but, remember what Jesus said, so as not to get caught up in what not.YET matters...

”Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow , for tomorrow will take care of itself.” Matt. 6:34

Oh, the verse before is a pretty good one, too, no, its the best

”Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

 

[Jullianna]

I was thinking today about how this relates to our walk with Christ. When we eat from the same tree Adam and Eve ate from it brings pain, guilt, sorrow, bitterness.. But when we eat from the Tree of Life, our eyes become open in an entirely different way and all things can become new again. We see ourselves more clearly. We see others more compassionately. Healing and restoration comes from such things.

 

[Liamson]

When we embrace the Lord's way as should be our way, and, deposit the guilt and shame of our past mistakes, learning from them , having been honest with ourselves as we speak to God, letting Him indwelling in us lead our temple$ (bodies) forward, having pardoned our past from us, we then begin to see a richness of the present that God has for us. This present is filled with a blessed future too, but, remember what Jesus said, so as not to get caught up in what not.YET matters...

”Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow , for tomorrow will take care of itself.” Matt. 6:34

Oh, the verse before is a pretty good one, too, no, its the best

”Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matthew 18:3 “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." -Jesus

I was thinking today about how this relates to our walk with Christ. When we eat from the same tree Adam and Eve ate from it brings pain, guilt, sorrow, bitterness.. But when we eat from the Tree of Life, our eyes become open in an entirely different way and all things can become new again. We see ourselves more clearly. We see others more compassionately. Healing and restoration comes from such things.

Indeed. From such a thing, such a thing comes. =)

 

[GreenNnice]

Matthew 18:3 “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." -Jesus

Mark 10:15 too, speaks of becoming like a child to enter Heaven. Must be important, two Gospel writers have it in their writings, and, all scripture is God-inspired .


Yes Liams, right on ! Children of God , and, maybe a word to add to.your opening post is 'childhood' preceding 'innocence.'

We need to realize that we are not children anymore, too, in so recapturing this innocence of youth and embrace our past with the Spirit listened to, honestly by us, to help us understand our present and send us on His correct path for us in the future. The Lord leads

Excellent thread, Christ bro

 

[PopClick]

I thank God for everything that's happened in my life... if some of it were missing, I wouldn't be exactly who I am today.

Not that I don't have a lot of work to do still. But past experiences have molded me into what I am, and without them, I would be someone else.

 

[NodMyHeadLikeYeah]

I think sometimes i live in the past, especially the past where something hurts. I have a tendency to replay it over and over in my head again.

I wonder the same. Why cant i just give it to God and leave it alone.

 

[Oncefallen]

I think sometimes i live in the past, especially the past where something hurts. I have a tendency to replay it over and over in my head again.

I wonder the same. Why cant i just give it to God and leave it alone.

I am most guilty not so much of living in the past as allowing the "lessons learned" by those bad experiences to continue to control me in given areas of my life. I'll be the first to admit that the one I struggle with the most is the "you're not good enough" lesson that sunk in because of a perfectionist mother and a distant father.

 

[Liamson]

I think sometimes i live in the past, especially the past where something hurts. I have a tendency to replay it over and over in my head again.

I wonder the same. Why cant i just give it to God and leave it alone.

Me too.

But I know that if I am ever going to do it again, I need for my heart to feel like its the first time. I take hope in the fact that I believe in Love. It is everything we thought it was. Its worth more than all the songs about it.

I know how much I am capable of putting into a relationship. And THAT for me is everything I'm looking for. There is no qualification list, only the hope that someone has the capacity to go with me.

 

[Oncefallen]

I am most guilty not so much of living in the past as allowing the "lessons learned" by those bad experiences to continue to control me in given areas of my life. I'll be the first to admit that the one I struggle with the most is the "you're not good enough" lesson that sunk in because of a perfectionist mother and a distant father.

I just re-read through this post from last night and as I read it I realized that it could really give off the impression of being one of those whiney "mommy and daddy ruined my life" posts. I really hope that it wasn't taken that way since that is not the case. Although my folks both made their mistakes when I was growing up, they likewise both recognize it, and there has been healing within the family. I just intended to comment that from time to time that old message raises it's ugly head in spite of that healing.