Freeing Our Memories

Imagine how powerful the gift of memory is. Day after day, moment after moment, we make decisions based upon our memories. We remember the way we were raised and draw on that for a sort of moral compass. Or we remember that the last time we treated a family member harshly, we received a harsh resonse -- and we rethink our strategies. Or we remember how good it felt to reach out and help someone in need, and we willingly do so again. Probably more than any other faculty, our memory forms the foundation for most of the things we do.

How vital then, that we invite the Holy Spirit into our memories so that we can experience his healing and strengthening touch! How vital that we allow the Spirit to strip away hurts and angers from the past and fill them with his love and mercy!

God wants to free our memories so that we can recall all the wonderful things he has promised in Scripture and let them become the foundation for our lives. When painful memories surface, don't stuff them down. Instead, enter into that memory -- but take Jesus with you. Imagine him in the situation that hurt you. See him placing his arms around you, speaking words of strength and comfort. Tell him how much this situation hurt you and let him mend your heart. While the memory of the hurt will never go away, the pain of that memory can be healed. You can envision a future full of hope and promise.

Word Among Us, March 2
[bold emphasis added]

This is what Jesus did for me during that CRHP retreat I keep mentioning. I really could not go forward in His love until I could let go of some very big things from my past, until I could remember them without letting anger and hurt overcome me. What that meditation says is just what happened ... the memory of the hurt is there but it no longer has power over me. And I am able to let go of present angers and hurts much more quickly than before. As I write this there is a Men's CRHP Retreat getting ready to go forward at our church. I pray that the Holy Spirit sweeps through there as He did during my retreat and free them from whatever bonds hold them back.