I don't know about you, but even after being a disciple for over 8yrs, I still have a hard time with letting things go. If it wasn't about people who upset me or let me down, it was definitely things about myself. I was very good at re-living ugly moments that happened, either beating myself up, or beating others up (mentally). This is an ugly place, and isn't something that I want for my son, or my loved ones... and yet, I go there often myself. It's my own personal hell. It's a dark place where i'm barraged by lies and half-truths, tearing my character apart, weakening my heart & in the end, my faith. Its funny because, on paper, you would never allow such a place to exist (in each of our heads), and yet, we all have one.

And yet, we all know that God is an amazing Father who has lifted us out of the dirt that is our own led lives, and loves us, heals & corrects us, helps us grow... God loves us so much that He is helping us, changing us, so that we can live better, happier lives... not only for ourselves, but as a testimony to others on God's healing power for others to see. But to get there, we need to accept some things.

God loves you. Unconditionally. There is nothing that you can do to change that. You can't add to it, nor take it away. He loves you you so much today, and will continue to love you at that same level throughout all of your life - with prefect love. When we can say start with this, then we can begin to see the value in ourselves. When we begin to accept God's unconditional love, satan's lies start to lose their power... We begin to see ourselves as "ok" regardless if others do or not. If we see ourselves as "broken", then we will continue to see ourselves that way. But if we see ourselves as loved by God, then our lives will reflect that.

This one's something that is easier said than done. But when you can begin to see how God sees you, in how you're amazing, then it's easier to accept that fact that God has forgiven you for your mistakes. Think bout this - When He forgives you, He has forgotten about those mistakes. If you want to be healed, you need to receive God's forgiveness... and then, you can let it go.

You cannot break free from the Hell that you've created for yourself, unless you can forgive yourself. And when that happens, forgiving others becomes easier. It's impossible to remain angry with someone if you are sincerely praying for them. Hating them doesn't change anything - it simply makes you worse off. But praying for God to continue blessing them is what we need to do. And when you pray, you can tell God how you don't want to them to be blessed, but because God wants us to do this, then you'll do it. This is proof to everyone that with us, God's Word works.

When we pummel ourselves with our mistakes, we are showing some amazing characteristics - we have a great memory, and energy to remember. It's just too bad that we've been doing this with the bad things in our lives. I remember writing in a journal, all of the bad things that happened, but that would be it. There would be no "What is God teaching me here?" There definitely wasn't any closure. It was simply venting but i never let it go... it's simply complaining.

But when we start putting this to work, using the blessing we've had in our lives, Think of all of the good that God's given you in just today alone? If by remembering the bad, we create our own personal hell, think of the heaven we create when we start focusing upon God's blessings.

As long as we blame others, we won't get anywhere. Yes, things happen that are the reason why we end up doing the wrong things we did in our lives, beit drugs, sex, attitudes, depression, ... But moments, as bad as they are, do not excuse us from hurting ourselves or others. The Israelites blamed God when things became "tough". God frees them from decades of slavery, and days into their walk home, they murmur about how God & His efforts, by wanting to go back to their former life. This was something that took me most of my life to see, forget address.

The thing about all of this is - You need to stop doing what you've always been doing because what you've been doing doesn't work. You're in the situation that you're in because of the decisions or reactions that you've exercised already. But if what God wants us to do sounds so foreign... so crazy, then it has to work! It's so crazy (in our minds), that it just has to work.