A Season of Lights - Day 5 - The Gift of Forgetting

Normally we wouldn’t think that having a bad memory is a good thing. It certainly isn’t helpful when we’re trying to finish an exam or standing in the aisle at the grocery store trying to remember the last ingredient in the recipe for dinner.

But when it comes to wounds or offenses being forgetful is actually a great blessing.

As we transition into a new season, God’s heart for us is that we would enter unhindered – free from the hurts and wounds of the past season. The battle was long and hard but we can’t live there. We must move on.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18

When an athlete is about to run a race, he rids his mind of any other thought except that particular race. He doesn’t think about last week’s race and the mistakes he made. He knows in order to win, he must be totally focused on the race before him. It’s the same for us. We cannot dwell or live emotionally or mentally in the past – in our mistakes or our hurts, wounds or offenses. If we do our spirits will be hindered from fully running the new race that is before us.

During this season of consecration and rededication it is important that we take time to do an inventory with the Lord. We need to wait before Him and ask Him to expose any areas in our hearts where we are holding unforgiveness or situations where we have offended others and have not repented. And as things are revealed we need to be swift to forgive and to repent and make things right.

But what if we have done all we know to do to forgive and still we find ourselves unable to put to rest these wounds of the past and move on? Sometimes, if we have endured extremely painful situations or repeated wounds for an extended period of time, we can become traumatized – stuck in a state of emotional state of woundedness. We try to move on but we find the world filled with emotional landmines. Hearing a certain sound or seeing something (or someone) causes an instant flood not just of memories but of the pain of the original experience. Sometimes we can feel like Lott’s wife - trapped, frozen in time, forever looking back.

If we are suffering from this kind of trauma, how do we move on?

A friend of ours who had been involved in a spiritually abusive church for many years was struggling with just such a question. One day the Lord showed her a vision. She was standing in a big pile of black sticky goo. A friend was trying with all their might to pull on both her arms to free her, but it was impossible. Then she heard the Lord say, “The black goo you are stuck in is the hurt and offense you feel over this situation with your church. And the only way you are going to get out of this mess is to untie your shoes and step out of them and walk forward barefoot.”

“But Lord,” she said as she surveyed a huge meadow of tall grass that was in front of her, “won’t it be dangerous to walk barefoot? What if I step on something and hurt myself?”

“Yes it would be dangerous,” the Lord answered, “if you walk on your own. But if you follow Me and step only where I have already stepped, you will be safe”.

In visions and dreams, shoes often are used to represent our path or journey in life while being barefoot is a sign in the Middle East of humbling oneself.

In this season the Lord by His grace has decided to prepare a remnant of His body to enter into the Promised Land. But we are not going alone. He is going to go before us. If your heart is to move forward but you find yourself stuck, there is a grace available for you right now. If you choose to humble yourself and step out of the black goo of the wounds and trauma you can follow the Lord’s footsteps safely into the new season. And for all those who choose to take this step of faith we believe that God has a supernatural gift of forgetting that He will bestow by which you can finally put the rest the traumas of the past.

"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:4-5

We don’t have to remain a prisoner to our past hurts and wounds because the Holy One of Israel is Our Redeemer and He had decreed this to be a season of grace, of new beginnings, of cycles of life and redemption. We only have step by faith into it.

Let’s pray this prayer together. Lord in this season of transition I choose to forget what is behind me and press on to what is ahead, toward the goal to win the prize for which You have called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Father I ask you to shine the light of your wisdom and revelation into my heart and show me any areas where I have held on to unforgiveness or unknowingly I have offended others. Lord I believe that I can walk healed and free from the traumas of the past and I choose to receive your gift of forgetting in my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Grace and peace to you

The Watchmen Team