Reason #169

"Whatever your past has been, you have a spotless future."

I saw a sign with these words today as I looked through a home decor store. A small black wooden box with white block letters painted across the front. A simple saying, a true saying. So I bought it and placed it on a shelf in my bedroom.

I worry about my future. I won't lie and pretend that I don't. And the real reason I worry about my future is because of my past. A past that I'm not too far passed. But today is the last day of June. Today, I realized that 2012 is more than half way over.  And although I've spent too much time hating the fact that my past is always going to be my past, I realized today that the bad is over. The worst has come and gone, and it won't be happening again. The future is now what I have. The future is unknown, unblemished, not tainted. A future full of new memories to be made and new experiences to be had. A spotless future.

And although I'd like to go back, rewind, change my past, I can't. But as I thought about it, I realized that maybe changing it isn't such a good idea after all. Because if I could changed my past, if I had done things differently, if it were an option to have a do-over, I wouldn't be where I am today. I would not have 169 reasons to smile. I wouldn't have experienced the power of God like I have over the past (almost) 9 months. And the more I thought about it, I realized what my past is. I so often think of my past as a past of mistakes, heartache, rejection, failure, brokeness and shame but here is what it really is. My past is full of grace. It's a past packed full of God's provision, protection and redemption. A past that shows how mighty, how loyal, how loving, and how good God is. A past that testifies to God's saving power. A past brimming over with answered prayers. A past of growth, a past of perseverence, a past of learning, and a past of refining. A past that I wouldn't be able to have any other way.

So it has passed and it's all in the past. But because of my past, and because of who passed through it with me, I do have a spotless future. And not only do I have a spotless future, I actually have a spotless past because the spotless Lamb willingly spilled out His precious, life-saving blood to save my life. And by doing so, He wiped the slate clean, redeemed all yucky pasts, and gave hope to every future.

#169 - Because my past is passed and I have a spotless future!

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began..." - 1 Peter 1:18-20