I was going through some of my old emails over the weekend and came across a few that made me chuckle and reminisce about the old days. In one of them, a classmate had forwarded a picture he kept from our high school days. Here it is, over twenty-five years later, and he still has this picture of me. He even shared what I wrote on the back of it, “It’s not one of my favorite pictures, but I hope you like it.” I was fourteen years old and in the ninth grade at the time. Looking at that picture, I thought to myself, “Oh, if I could just talk to the girl in that picture and tell her what I know now.” 

Some of the most profound words of wisdom was spoken to me this week. The pearl I received was “God wants us to get comfortable with trusting and relying on Him and not relying on man, money or anything else the world has to offer.”  The earth is grooming ground for our faith. No matter what we go through in life, it is the trying of our faith that brings out the best results, because we must trust God through it all.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT), “12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 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, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” This has always been one of my favorite passages. There is no point in looking back at what used to work or making ourselves miserable by reliving the embarrassment of past mistakes. There’s no need to even look back at old relationships. Let what happened in the past remain just that…in the past.

We need to keep our focus and attention on God, and what He has in front of us! God wove the wisdom of age and maturity into our growth. He designed it to be a process instead of an instantaneous event. Our faces may look different, but if we’re in Christ, we’re a better version of ourselves than we could have ever hoped to be.

I really wouldn’t trade anything that has happened in my life. Every circumstance, every tribulation, every heart-break and every great moment that has been afforded to me, has deepened my well of gratitude for the love of Christ. There’s no point in the look-back if it isn’t to celebrate the goodness of God and the reality that the best is yet to come!■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“No Point in the Look-Back”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.