If history has taught me anything it has taught me that our past shapes our future, but does not define it. Whether good or bad it impacts the upcoming days ahead. The good we relish in it of course in gratitude and in joy. The bad though, we can let it define us or we can let it mold our character in the best way possible. Learning from it, growing from it, or finding a lesson in it. For history shapes character, but doesn’t define it, like it is a boundary we cannot move from. We don’t need to act like it didn’t happen, but we must allow it to shape us into the person that God has designed for us to be, for His glory. I have known people come out of bad situations in their youth and rise above it. Instead of living in pity, they learned from the bad and chose to be better because of it. It shaped them into a stronger person; it didn’t define them. They chose not to make those same decisions and became wiser, stronger, understanding, kind and more empathetic. I have watched people go through devastation and despite their grief, they made something beautiful even through their pain. We can choose to be victims of the hard things we go through and let our history define us. Or with God, we can choose to learn through our pain, our struggles, our hardship and let our history help mold us, shape us, into the wonderful people God had in mind for our lives. Living for His glory and loving despite the hard we may have endured. Friend, I may not know your past or your history. However, I know as humans we all have something hard we have gone through; whether in our own doing, someone else’s or just something that happened or maybe a mix of all of it. Although I have learned that history is meant to teach, to educate, to help us learn and grow. Like stepping stones through life, leading us as God’s children closer to Him. We can choose to stay stuck and let it define us forever in that spot of hardship. Or we can choose to take that next step forward with God. I will forever be grateful that I did not let those hard times define my future, like it had been written in those stones of hardship. Looking back on all the things which I have gone through in my life, it helped shape who I am and am still becoming and I like where I am headed. I know you too will friend. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep stepping forward with the Lord.

Erin Fitts-Brower

Stepping forward with the Lord

Isaiah 43:18-19

“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.