Hey everyone! God has been doing so much in Ecuador and I feel like every single day he is teaching me new things!!! So I was wondering on what to write about for this blog post because this past week has been an off week, but God really started to stir something in my heart this week. The simple message of not holding onto my past. For so much of my life I was so focused on all the things I have done wrong in my past. The past started to take over all my thoughts and I wasn’t able to focus on the present or my future. I started to realize this week that I was going back to the past and getting so upset with myself on the mistakes I have made. Yesterday I was having my quiet time with God, and I literally heard the audible voice of God saying “why are you focused on the past?” “Do you doubt that I have forgiven you from your past?” Wow. Hearing that rocked my world, and was blown away from actually hearing that voice, but hearing the hardcore truth in that voice. Those words rocked me so much because focusing on the past in a bad way is not pushing me forward growing in the Lord, but its actually stunting my growth. The other thing that hit hard was realizing I was doubting God’s plan from the past. In the past God was still with me walking along side me in those dark moments, and he never ever left my side. God used all that pain from my past and grew me so much from it! The question that I am pondering on so much is “Do you doubt that I have forgiven you from your past.” I was doubting God. We do this so much in life is we look back on our past and think about how many terrible things we have done in our past, and how could God forgive us. That voice that tells us how terrible we are is not from God, but that voice is from the enemy. A challenge for everyone is don’t sit in your past and regret all the things that you have done. Just push forward and take the step of faith because God is always there right next to you. The past is over! Focus on the present and the future things that God is working in you right this moment.
James 1:2-3 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Love, Ryan
