I am currently reading a book about leaving your past behind. Many of us have emotional tattoos that we cannot remove without God's help. If we do not realize we have a tattoo we cannot even have God remove it. We alll must examine ourselves and see our past for what it was and it can either make us or break us. God uses our circumstances in our lives to help others. we may not expierence the same turmoil as another but we are similiar to what they may be expierencing. God only gives us what we can handle.

Let us look at The Scarlet Letter.

She has an affair with a young preacher and has a child. Her husband is a doctor and is thought to be dead but returns. She carries this letter and her son with pride fancys herself a beautiful crinsom letter and hold s her own. But the preacher never once tells of it and is worse off then she. We must admit our faults to overcome them.

So maybe we make mistakes we are all human. But we all can bandage them up. But sometimes our sores do not heal without God's help. If we ask him to help he will. If we are angry with God because of something our addictions, our abusive step fathers, etc we just need to tell God Hey we are mad and we can't understand why we must endure this.

God knows we are already angry right because he is all knowing. So to not tell God would be stupid. Everyone knows to tell of secrets of long ago that no one knows is hard but to tell God would benefit us. I know that I myself have been angry with God about things and I just stood back and bottled up my anger.

To focus on negativity you recieve negativity.

To focus on positivity you recieve positivity.

But we sometimes are in a scale. We must weigh the good and bad. But to balance it out we have to do something. We focus on what we do have and eventually we can see we are fortunate and if we still are alive what is so bad. If we still have our health a roof over our head what is so bad.

God uses good and bad circumstances to help us through our journeys in life. We must all endure the test of life and overcome it and overcome our past to see our future destiny in God.

I think the best reason to leave the past behind is that it does not exist anymore. As a friend was fond of saying "Take a picture of, look at it, and throw it away." Just try to make today a good day.



That is a very Pagan thing to say, 101. Maybe there is a little Pagan in you after all.

101 Interesting, What I'd say is when you see the image of divinity , which is you which is really in the in the likeness of God you will truly love and love truly, So many philosophys have so many names some call it enlightenment some call it God/Goddess some call it godself some call iot Self actualiZation or self realization some call it spiritual it matters not the label because its all the same destination and what it has in common is that which is divine is not outside of you controlling your life sending in trials your life is your own creation, Namaste sheri

One the ways to deal with past (painful) events, is to write it all down and burn it!

What is the title of this book you're reading, 101?

Putting The Past Behind You - Lutzer, Erwin W.

That isn't the first time someone has told me this.

Well Sherri, how can a person cause themselves as a chld to be physically abused, or emotionally hurt as a child. How can a person help it when they are cursed with mental illness or cancer. How can a person make up these trials or create them? It is not possible.

101 Judge not anothers life circumstances until you see how they use it, I work with a beautiful person who had the worst child hood a person could have and she took that circumstance and transceneded it and now is a fine example of forgiveness and many other things , My Mother just went through cancer and felt it was a gift it transformed her life, 101 its possible to see the perfection in anything there are no victims unless you beleive your self to be one, My sister was murdered and my best friend commited suicide they taught me more about myself then any other experinces they have contributed largely to the person who I am and I'm an inspiration (not always humble I do believe in thinking highly of myself)Those were gifts to me I wasn't a victim of anything and my sister's death paved the way for our family to be a family, life is a blessing and the tough times are what show you the divinity that you are and all you need to get through anything is in you to begin with The greatest anyione is is because of the worst . If you don't see the perfection in things life is very tough indeed. Namaste sheri

No child can cause this to happen to them.....it is out of their control.... It is what you do with this once you are older.... Do you allow yourself to be a victim for the rest of your life? Do you repeat the cycle? Or do you choose to overcome, reach out to others and possibly even help those in need? I don't think anyone is saying a child brings this on and as adults we definitely have a responsibility to protect our children.

Unfortunately, people with a true mental illness do not always have the insight and judgement to help themselves. There are plenty of people who overcome the initial shock of a diagnosis of cancer and go on to beat it. Not everyone can "win" every trial in life, but it is how you handle your specific trials.

So, you are right... Focus on positive things, don't dwell on the negative. Unfortunately, there are always going to be those who are in situations where they cannot help themselves, as you pointed out, and it is up to others to protect those, especially children.

Good post.....

All we can do is change the pattern. Sometimes we are given the oppression of mental illness or addictions. But it is what we do with them. I always have struggles with addiction. But we just have to find a way to get over and out of that. I will soon be in a place where I can overcome what people think is an addiction.