Don't Let Your Past Steal Your Future

Have you ever wondered how much our past can keep us from
entering open doors that God has provided? Sometimes the
fear from a past incident makes me hesitant to enter into a
new door. There is one incident that stands out above all
others in my “child mind” and often reaches from the past to
grab my future….

As a small child, I always loved to play in the dirt and the
house where I spent the first five years of my life was
built on red clay—the best “kids” dirt in the whole world.
After a rain, the clay near the road would soften and would
provide hours of imaginative play for me. I molded the soft
clay into anything I could imagine. My favorite thing to
make was “frog houses” - the result of covering my foot
with clay, patting it down firmly and then carefully
removing my foot—there to my delight was a “frog house.” Not
that I ever found a frog to inhabit the house, but in my
imagination it was the perfect place for one to take up
residence.

One day I wandered too close to the road where the clay was
particularly pliable. My mother didn’t like my playing in
the dirt or by the side of the road - for obvious mother
reasons. She had told me over and over again, “Stay out of
that dirt!” and “Stay away from the road.” But I just
couldn’t resist. The day I remember the most, I suppose she
had reached her boiling point and she decided to drive her
warnings home in a more poignant way. She came to where I
was sitting, picked me up and started toward the back of the
house. I knew what was coming. I was going to “the shed”! Of
course, I began to scream which brought all the neighbors
out to observe the ruckus. Mother opened the rickety shed
door and made me step inside on the old wooden floor. I
could see the ground through the rotten boards and in my
vivid imagination every creepy-crawly within miles was
coming to get me through the cracks in the floor. The old,
weathered shed housed mother’s empty Mason jars that were
brought there throughout the winter until they were
retrieved in the spring and summer when canning time came
around.

Once inside and the door shut, I began to yell, “Somebody
please go get my daddy! He works down at Fred Stewarts. I
need him now to get me out of here.” I screamed over and
over again. Several neighbors ventured closer to plead with
my mother to let me out, but punishment had been determined
and it was to be carried out! I just remember that no one
came to my rescue. No one went to get my Dad for me.

To this day, when I enter a dark room and the light behind
me is bright, the memory of that need for my daddy rushes
through my mind like a flash flood. It’s a sinking feeling.
I take a deep breath and realize God’s grace. At that moment
I hold the promise of God very close and I remember my
Heavenly Father said—”For you did not receive a spirit that
makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit
of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father,” Romans 8:15.
My encouragement to you is whatever you are going through,
or have gone through in the past—sickness, abandonment,
failures—whatever it is—Don’t let your past steal your
future!
Cling tightly to the promises of God!