All of Your Effort-- Letting Go of the Past

“I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us...” -Philippians 3:13b-14 (NLT)

When it comes to letting go of the past, we may tend to think that it

involves some sort of one-time ritualistic amount of effort--and POOF-- all of our past regrets, mistakes, losses, etc. will be no more. But more often than not, letting go of the past requires more than a one-time choice. In fact, letting go of the past usually requires a daily and conscious decision, dedication, and effort on our part. We must be conscious that we are choosing to let go, and we must put in a certain amount of effort to actually do so. Notice in the above verse I shared from Philippians 3:13 that the Apostle Paul said, "I am putting ALL my energy into this one thing: Forgetting the Past and looking forward to what lies ahead." He didn't say "some" effort, he didn't say "a little effort, but only when I feel like it" he said "ALL" of his effort. And I've come to realize that the same is required of any of us who desire to let go of the past. It takes all of our effort to make the choice to let go and put in the work to controlling our thoughts in doing so.

Now for those of you who already know the Apostle Paul's story, you can only imagine just how difficult letting go of the past must have been for him. And for those of you who don't know, I'll give you a quick re-cap: Paul (formerly known as “Saul”) went around most of his life searching to have Christians (anyone spreading the message and gospel of Christ) killed. One day Paul was given a major and miraculous revelation from God that transformed his life and his viewpoint of Jesus and His disciples (see Acts 9 & 10 to read the whole story). Saul, now transformed by God’s love and mercy became known as Paul. From this point forward Paul dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of Christ so much so that he was often times imprisoned and faced death for his new beliefs; much of the New Testament he wrote is historically believed to have been written from prison cells. Can you imagine the struggle he must have faced knowing he had been responsible for hundreds of God’s people being killed? He had to put ALL of his effort into letting go of the past—and it was likely a daily effort to remind Himself to let go, to know that He has been forgiven, that God had new plans and a new future in store for Him, and that despite his past, God was still going to use him in a big way. In fact, Paul’s past made his story all the more powerful testament of God’s love, goodness, grace, and transformative, Almighty power.

Now while you may or may not be able to relate to Paul's story, chances are if you've lived here on this earth long enough, you have your own share of regrets, losses, or pains that are dragging you down by bringing your past into the present. For those of you struggle with the past, my word of encouragement to you is this: Put all of your effort into letting go. How do you do that? Here are a few tips I’ve found to be helpful in letting go of the pain of the past:

1. Make The Decision that you are no longer going to allow your past to pull you down. You can’t let go until you’ve made the conscious decision that you are actually going to let go. Life is too short to live in regret, remorse, or constant and unnecessary pain—make the choice to let it go.

2. Once you’ve chosen to make a deliberate and conscious EFFORT in letting go of the past, also know that you’re probably going to struggle every now-and-again with pesky thoughts of the past trying to pull you down. Whenever you get those pesky, pestering thoughts of the past, it’s important to:

First, recognize them for what they are (thoughts of the past that are going to make you feel badly and which often do not accurately represent the truth of reality) and

Secondly, immediately change your focus by doing one of the following:

A) Change your focus from the past pains to all of the brightness and joy that your future has in store. Write out goals, cut out pictures of things you'd like to do or places you'd like to go. Keep the vision alive of all the exciting possibilities the future could hold. The possibilities are endless!

B) Remind yourself of all of God's promises of who he has made you to be. Remember that you are forgiven (Acts 13:38, Colossians 3:13), loved more than you could possibly know (John 3:16, Romans 8:37-38), and that God's plans for you are for good and not evil, to prosper you not to harm you, to give you a hope and a wonderful, bright future (Jeremiah 29:11).

C) Ask God to help you let go. His word tells us that "he is more than happy to help you when you struggle and are tempted" (1 Corinthians 10:13) and that when we ask, we shall receive anything in line with His will. I don't believe God wants you living in past pain, I believe He wants the very best for you and part of that includes living a life free of the past. Ask God to help you let go and He surely will.

D) Thank God in advance for His healing and help. This might be a tough one because when you're experiencing pain, thanking God is one of the last things you want to do. But the Bible is repeatedly clear of the power of praise, especially when things look bleak and hopeless. Praise God in the midst of your pain and thank Him for the help that's already on its way. I promise you will be setting the stage for miracles to occur in your life when you do this. 

I hope you'll remind yourself of these things when needing to let go of the past, and I hope this post has helped shift your focus. Know you are not alone in your struggles, and that every temporary trial or setback you face is really just a stepping stone on the road to greatness if you learn to have the right attitude; whatever the circumstance.

Wishing you all lots of love, peace, and joy at thoughts of the bright future that awaits you.

Wishing You Peace & Endless Love

-Brigitte