Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 6:00AM 
Greetings, Dear Friends!
And to those visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way. Each month I give away a $10.00 Starbucks gift card to someone who posts on my blog. So leave a comment, share a story or insight, and just maybe you'll win a jolt of java for you and a friend! I'll announce the winner for August next week.
As most of you know, I have a new radio show, Live the Promise with Susie Larson. The program airs every Saturday morning from noon to 1:00 CST. And guess what? We are going live on weekdays starting in October! More details to follow...
Last week I guest-hosted for Connecting Faith and my special guest was Terri Savelle Foy, author of, "Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories. We had a great discussion (and it's the springboard for my blog topic today).
Check out the podcast from that show.
And, a quick note about this week's show! Listen in as I interview author Jerry Rankin on his new book, "Spiritual Warfare and Missions." Listen in on KTIS AM 900, or listen online at: www.faith900.com
Now on to my topic...
I have a few questions for you...
- Do you tend to look BACK more than you look FORWARD? In other words, do your thoughts default more to your PAST than they do to the POSSIBILItIES in Christ?
- Do you tend to look DOWN more than you look UP? In other words, are you more SELF-AWARE than GOD-AWARE?
- Is easier to believe that God could NEVER USE YOU or to believe that GOD WANTS TO USE YOU GREATLY?
I have great news for you today! It's a new day! The old is gone - it's behind you - it can no longer hurt you unless you breathe life into it. As a new creature in Christ, your sin is buried in the sea of forgetfulness. It's out of God's memory. Think about that on a consistent basis! There is NOW therefore, NO condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus! (See Romans 8:1). God intends to give you a HOPE and a FUTURE. His plan and highest will is for you to live in the NEWNESS of today and in the PRESENCE of His promises that you might live life ABUNDANTLY.
As I mentioned in the intro above, this past week I interviewed Terri Savelle Foy on her great book, "Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories." Though outwardly as a young woman she appeared to have everything a girl could want going for her - she was dying on the inside - so aware of her faults, sins, and missteps. But at one point the Lord spoke these wonderful words to her heart, "Terri, why do you keep bringing up sins I've chosen to forget?"
Why do we do that?
I am guilty of this very thing! I spend a lot of time calling to mind Christ's sacrifice on my behalf. And since I'm such a visual thinker, God tends to speak to me in word pictures. One day as I prayed about the past being dead and gone I pictured the ground behind me giving way as I walked forward. Every sin, every misstep and mistake, dropped into a canyon of forgetfulness, never to be accounted against me again. And yet, as the ground gave way and began to drop, what I did for Christ suddenly defied gravity and ascended to Heaven to be written in the book of remembrance.
What incredible, scandalous grace! Our sins are covered and forgotten, but every act prompted by our faith, remembered and rewarded.
We get stuck in our past not because God remembers but because we remember... and because we care that others remember. We put more weight in man's ability to remember than we do God uncanny ability to forget. God forgive us!
To have bigger dreams than memories, we must forget was lies behind us and press forward that which Christ paid such a high price: A redeemed, renewed, powerful, fruitful, world-changing life!
Who cares if people around us still hold judgments against us? God Himself has made a public spectacle of the powers that oppose us! (See Colossians 2:15).
At some point we need to trust God, take Him at His Word, and shake the dust of the past off of our feet!
Dream big with God today, my friend! Nothing is impossible with Him.
Blessings to you!
~Until Next Week
Reader Comments (10)
Continued blessings! I must go listen to that broadcast now!!
Who I Was, Who I Am
My heart aches as I think of who I once was,The empty, dreadful person I have been,Doing as I pleased - wretched, wandering.My life was boldly full of self and sin.
I was entangled by my own selfishness,Ignorantly thinking I was independent and free,So overcome by the world’s fleeting joy,A noose around my neck, yet I could not see.
Sorrow fills my being as I think of where I was,Yet, joy and gratefulness fill me more as I pray.Consumed by forgiveness as I go to my Father,His grace frees me to close the past, focus on today.
Praise God! His amazing grace falls fresh on me,My sins are washed away and long gone.I have put on His cloak of righteousness,Filled with His Spirit, power and a new song.
No condemnation, no fear or doubt,No use to hold onto who I was then,I am forgiven, set truly free for eternity,Dread replaced by praise; self replaced by Him.
Not living by my own weak, limited ability,Rather, depending on His strength that fills,Knowing nothing is impossible for those who believe.My future is bright as He shines the light that heals.
I am not who I was because I have the “I AM,”No longer have to live in shame and sin,He loves me just as I am, yet helps me to change,Growing, changing, knowing who I am in Him.
Written by Rachel Beran 8-23-10(Please do not use without permission from Rachel Beran)
Thanks for your post. Hope you enjoyed the broadcast. I sure did. There is so much to be said about disarming the past that we may lay hold of the future God has for us. We are so quick to forget what God has made available to us. He is so good! Bless you, dear!
May God fulfill every act prompted by your faith! He is Mighty to Save! May He increase our faith and then mobilize us - more and more - to step out in faith (leaving our past in the dust where it belongs).
Blessings to you!
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely poem. Such a clear description of what God has done for us and of how He walks us through the process of sanctification and redemption. Love it. May He pour many more such poems in you and through you!
Blessings to you, sister!
Thanks for your post. The Bible calls us to look forward to what's ahead - to forget the past - to embrace a God-sized vision for our lives! I know for me, that every time He shows me my 'next-place-of-promise' and I walk by faith, I get there and it always leaves me wishing I had more faith along the way. But what's so great is that He gives me another chance to trust Him fully when He shows me yet again, my next place of promise. It's such a powerful thing to be linked in fellowship with the Most High God. Yes, Lord. :)
I do tend to get stuck in the past more often than I look to the possibilities of God in the future. I know the Bible tells us not to, but it is so ingrained - a stronghold, if you will. Sometimes I think I've mastered it, but it is deeply ingrained. We are starting a series in church shortly in which we will be dealing with our emotional health. I am praying for a breakthrough. I would appreciate the prayers of a prayer warrior like you, Susie! Thanks!
Love you -
Andrea
May the Lord Himself lift you up and make you strong! May He deliver you from your fears, restore your wounds, and increase your faith! May God give you a God-sized vision for your life and the spiritual tenacity to lay hold of it. You are a Kingdom woman and God is mightily at work within you. Bless you, my friend!