Looking Back

Looking back is not so bad.  Looking back has a bad reputation.  Actually, anything practiced in excess and with the wrong motives is bad.   Looking back or “hindsight,” when leveraged properly has many benefits as long as it’s not done with regret.

For 2 ½ years I’ve been trying to figure out my “process.”  We all do that.  I’ve been trying to understand the root cause of my many disappointments.  Frankly, it’s really been the darkest time in my walk with Christ.  Everything that could be shaken was shaken and many things fell and broke! 

In this past week, I finally learned something.  When God has you in the darkest place of your life, our prayers become more simple, focused,  fervent and desperate.  That’s what happened to me.  And in that moment he answered my prayer!

Now I can use hindsight to unravel my past by seeing the areas where I went wrong and the times when God was trying to change me.  And I can do this with absolutely NO REGRETS!  I’m able to leverage my memories without contaminating them with regret, bitterness, disappointment and offense.  Now I’m able to learn from them and pull necessary wisdom.

You see, looking back is not all that bad!  Without it, we have no history.  And the best kind of history is when we can discover HIS-story in the darkest times of our lives.

5 Comments

  1. cindy shappy on November 25, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    A popular saying it is always darkest before the dawn. In one of
    our songs it always say and joy comes in the morning. Your joy
    is back. Remember your breakthrough is the devil’s breakdown!!
    Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! I know you all are
    having a great time in the Big Apple. One of my professors always
    said ; ” the hardest lesson is your best teacher”. Get Ready,
    Pastor Manny is back! HALLELUJAH!!!!!



  2. manny on November 29, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    Well Pastor its good to go back and check what you wrote so you can tell others what you know about the lord. we just need to stay focus so we don’t need to go back.



  3. Jalina on November 29, 2011 at 12:23 AM

    I absolutely agree that many times we need to look back to audit our lives and learn from our past wrong choices. It is not to dwell and mourn but realize that in those dark times our Almighty Father did not forsake us.

    I agree with Cindy glad the family was in New York but have been greatly missed. Welcome back.



  4. Januel on November 29, 2011 at 10:31 PM

    Pastor i agree with you because I sometimes look back and it shows me that God has got me this far to show to forget about it and keep going.



  5. mario on November 29, 2011 at 11:39 PM

    Our hindsight is so important and so significant for our future. We need to look back before we can improve and make better decisions for our future. The good thing of the past is that whatever happen is now behind you and we can use that knowledge to improve our future.