The drive was pleasant, the weather mild, and the occasion welcomed. It had been quite some time since I had attended such a meeting. Upon our arrival, I found the room nicely prepared and the people warm and welcoming. The speaker shared for an extended time, and I found the topic engaging.
Nearing the end of the planned time together, we were instructed to find someone with whom to share our story. Such requests often cause my heart to race and my mind to speed through a myriad of memories as I search for a snippet that might be meaningful to the other person. After awkwardly connecting with someone unknown to me, I was thankful for the peaceful calm that prompted me to invite her to share first.
She, too, seemed to be anxious. Within moments, her demeanor changed as she struggled to concisely share what obviously still pained her. She spoke of abuse, neglect, and how she would never rise to what she saw in the others filling the room. Compassion rose in my heart for her as I silently prayed for the right words. I wanted to encourage her. I wanted to speak words of healing and hope. And within moments the words began to flow.
“You are not what you came from,” I said to her. Then my own concise story began to flow. To our astonishment, we found some common ground and then proceeded to pray for one another as the speaker had invited us to do.
The encounter was brief, but the impact was far reaching. It was as though wave after wave of enlightenment washed over her. She began to realize that whatever had happened to her, whatever she had done in response, did not have to define who she would be today, tomorrow, or in the future. And the same is true for all of us. We do not have to be or become like that from which we came.
Paul said it like this:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 niv
As we learn about the teachings of Jesus Christ and apply them to our lives, we transform into who we were created to be. We do not have to be defined by who we were or what we experienced.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 niv
Whatever hand life may have dealt us, whatever road we may have traveled, as long as we have breath it is not too late to turn to God and discover who He intended us to be. We are not what we came from. Nor are we all that we will be. The best is yet to come when we determine to follow Jesus.
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