You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.”                    ~ Unknown

“Don’t be afraid to keep moving on 
for what was before, now has gone. 
God wants to accomplish so much more 
but we need to move forward in the Lord.”    -M.S.Lowndes

ISAIAH 43:18-19 (NIV)      “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

Looking back will only cause you to stumble and fall.  If you carry around regrets and sorrows that keep your focus on the past, you are missing your present and future!  You will not have your eyes on the blessings God is trying to give you on a daily basis.  If your eyes are always looking backwards, you are blind to the things before you.

In addition to missing blessings, you are in great peril of falling or at least stumbling on your path and journey in life.  When your eyes are not facing forward and you are gazing at things long past, how can you possibly see the dangers in front of you?  Think of the posture would take to walk forwards with your neck turned and your eyes looking at what you have already travelled.  Awkward and clumsy would be an understatement.

Now imagine a person with his eyes looking back while attempting to climb a mountain.  He would not get very far indeed!  His hands would feel for handholds and would surely find them at first, but there will always come a time when handholds are hard to come by.  At these moments you need your eyes looking forward and searching for those hidden places that you can grasp.  They are necessary if you want to get a solid footing once again.

Grief is like a cloaked hood.  When it is worn over the head of a believer, it succeeds in hiding sorrow from those who would willingly share it and carry it a mile or two. The hood keeps others out but it also keeps you in, a prisoner of sorts.  A hooded cloak of grief impairs your vision and blocks all the goodness around you. You can become imprisoned by memories, good though they may be.  Memories are to be stored up and treasured for certain, but they are not to be used as an excuse to stop living your life for Christ. 

If your spouse has died and gone to heaven, they are waiting for you.  You were made as one.  Your spirits can’t be separated.  It is the miracle of the union of marriage.  But do consider this: Would your dearly departed loved one want you to live the rest of your years on earth living in the past with only memories to hold?  Would they encourage you to build new memories, even if they are not in them?  Maybe the new memories would give you an opportunity to share with them when you are finally reunited in God’s Kingdom.

Choosing to look ahead and focus on what is before you is not an act of betrayal to the one you love.   God wants to do new things in your life.  He is a LIFE LONG TEACHER and you should strive to be a LIFE LONG LEARNER.  He wants you to accomplish all that He has for you to do.  He promises to make a way for you in order to fulfill His purposes. He will refresh and heal your wounds when you are just too tired to move another step….. So long as you do eventually get up and move along. 

He does not want us to be a backward looking people going through life missing all the blessings He has for us along the way to glory.  Ask yourself this question.  Are you ready to start the next chapter of your life or are you going to re-read the last one over and over again?

JOB 17:9 (NLT)       “The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”