If you’ve ever attended Sunday school as a kid, or if you are familiar at all with the Bible, surely you’ve heard the story of Moses and the burning bush. God talks to Moses literally through a burning bush on the side of a mountain and tells Moses the next steps that he needs to take. I have often prayed for God to be so clear and dramatic when sometimes desperately seeking answers.
As I continue to seek God’s direction in my life, he is guiding me. In many cases, the answers are subtle, yet also in many cases, the answers and outcome are truly amazing. While there have been no burning bushes, there have certainly been many doors slammed and others opened. Many, who I call “angels”, came to my aid when I needed help.
In our society there has been an increasingly popular “spirituality” movement. Psychic readings, spiritual teachers and channeling abound. I believe the reason for this popularity is that we all want answers. We want the burning bush. We want to know what the future holds. Living a guided life, a life of faith, means living without being able to see our future – yet trusting that God has our future in his hands. Our faith comes ultimately from what is not seen.
2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We live by faith not by sight.”
Part of our restlessness, even suffering, comes from not only worrying about the future but spending too much time on hurts and disappointments of the past.
Isaiah 43:18 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
The Scriptures also have words of wisdom to heed if we worry or think too much about the future.
Matthew 6:24 says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Many times we fail to live in the present moment. It takes discipline to constantly direct our thoughts to the present moment. The present is really all that we have because none of us is promised tomorrow in the material world.
Pay attention to what happens in your life and think about how God has worked in a situation. Be conscious of being connected to God. If you dwell on the past and worry about the future, you’ll miss out on living. Decide today to stay in the present moment and feel God guiding you in your life.
Jackie Trottmann
June 23, 2011 11:14 amCeline, what you need to do is just breathe and know that God loves you. :) We all have done things we regret, but we are forgiven by God. “We” are the ones that need to forgive and move on. Easier said than done, I realize. As long as you learn from the past, that is the most important lesson. The more you feel connected to God, the more you will feel peace and the past will lose its grip. And by the way, I’m saying this as much for me as for you. Peace – Jackie
celine
May 17, 2011 1:44 pmi have a very hard time letting go of the past. and i KNOW my past is neither horribly bad or evil. howver, it is amazing that it STILL bothers me that there are things i really wish i hadn’t done. sigh.
i need to focus on the scripture of isaiah more!!!!