My Past

Last summer I went to see Rachel Hollis speak at RISE. My friend Katie and I went to check out the store they had. The jewelry caught my eye, but when I saw this bracelet on the first day I thought “who on earth would buy something that says past on it?” I do not want to live in the past.

Then the first day…. my eyes were literally opened… WOW. We dug in…..and it was HARD. So many tears. SO much beauty. Your PAST in not a anchor… it is a PLATFORM. How are you going to build on it? Are you going to transmit your pain onto other people or are you going to transform your pain? There is so much pain in this world.

We all did a exercise where we stood up for our sister. I would say easily 70-80% of the women in the room have experienced rape, so many losing a child, miscarriage, abuse, hating there bodies… so much pain… my heart just hurts seeing so many ladies who have had such suffering in their lives. We do not have control of so many things that have happened to us. BUT we do have control of what we do with that pain.

God will not waste our pain.

This life is HARD! Praise Jesus this isn’t our home.

On stage they interviewed a amazing woman that spoke volumes to me. Rachel Hollis asked her this question: If you could tell your 18 year old self anything… what would you tell her?

(Think about that for yourself for a minute? What would you say?)

Her answer rocked me to my core – NOTHING!!!

And this was why: All the suffering… all the mistakes… all the things I wish I would not have done… Those scars… They make me who I am today. So I bought this bracelet. As a reminder. Am I proud of the things I have done in the past? NO! Oh my goodness no. I have so many regrets. Do they define me? NO! Have I been through awful, painful experiences thus far in my life? YES! But will I choose to stand back up? YES! There are weights we are to CARRY, but we all have a choice… on how to carry it.

My Past does not define me…. but it has made me who I am today.