Joyfully Move Forward

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  It’s new and fresh every morning!

            Memories can be such blessings, sometimes even therapeutic! They can bring a smile to our face and joy to our heart.  Memories often are valuable treasures….especially the ones filled with love and laughter. But what about those memories of our past mistakes and bad choices?  Do we allow them to control us, casting a dark cloud over our present and our future? 

God desires for us to remember fondly the good times; but we must be cautious not to let our past mistakes rule our thoughts.  When we are repentant of our bad choices, having confessed them before the Lord, then we should move ahead and joyfully anticipate the opportunities for good things in our future.

            Isaiah 43:18-19 gives us the right perspective:

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ 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.”

            Those two verses teach that we don’t need to dwell on our past! We can joyfully move forward knowing that God is able to do a “new thing” in our lives. Whether our past was like a lush garden of sweet memories or a wasteland of hurt & regret, we can anticipate a Fountain of Joy springing up in our hearts because of our good, great, powerful God.

            Experience the fresh joy of letting go of the past and moving onward with Christ.