So today I had to take a writing placement exam before I start my classes this month on the 24th and I think I did pretty well considering that all I had to do was formulate an essay to support my opinion on a given topic. Needless to say, I don’t mind these kinds of “tests” because as a blogger/writer/author/journalist… well simply put, I love to write. After having such a topsy turvy week, landing in the ER and still recouping from of a car accident a few days before Christmas, I pressed my way to campus for the test. As I scurried about this morning, I had to stop and just begin praising God for blessing me with a second chance at this whole school thing.
You see a long time ago, I thought I had blown it. I dropped out of college after experiencing severe depression as a result of a date rape. (if interested, I share a little more about my testimony in my first book “Content… Right Where I Am” which is available for purchase through www.joyturner.net and Amazon.com.) From that point forward, I had difficulty recovering from that one isolated occurrence. Despite the fact that I did return to school to obtain my Associate’s Degree (Magna Cum Laude… I might add) I still had challenges moving ahead, mentally. Leaving school the first time was equivalent to failure in my mind, and from that there was no recovery. BUT GOD!
Over the years, I have been in personal battle with coming to grips with the fact that no matter what occurred in the past, I couldn’t go back and re-do any of it. There is no “undo” key, no “do over” option and no rewind button to press but as I began to seek God’s face concerning the matters of my past, the mistakes I have made, the things that others had inflicted upon me, and even my own indiscretions, God moved in my Spirit and I felt two words rise up within me: Move On. This I have learned is the key to my total restoration in Him and He is requiring all of us to do just that.
Many of you know the story of Lot’s wife who looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. The key thing is that God Himself instructed them not to look back at the cities that they were leaving behind. It was a necessary component for receiving God’s blessing and progressing forward but the temptation to look back was so great that she could not resist and so great was the consequence. Suffice it to say that looking back hinders our progress and we become figurative “pillars of salt” in our minds and spirits as we are stagnated and paralyzed by the pain from the past. The New Living Translation of Philippians 3:13 reads where Paul says “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” So today I ask you, just as I’ve had to ask myself, what “cities” do you need to leave behind and never look back in order to press forward? If God has given you a second chance, there is no one who can stop you and no one who can hinder you… but YOU. I encourage you to take the second, third, tenth or fiftieth chance that our merciful God has given… and MOVE ON!
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