Holy in the Daily

Blog posts to help women over 50 face their challenges with clarity, confidence, and resilience.

Get your 1st BURST OF CLARITY NOW.

Join over 800 women on my email list who applaud my FREE eBooks and refreshing, actionable lessons.

Quiz for Living Free of Your Past

Past, present, future signs from post at Holy in the Daily

Are you living free of your past? Living free of our past mistakes and immaturity is often as simple as choosing what we listen to and believe.

I recently had the Lord show me a picture of a man standing next to a cage in which a woman was sitting. I walked up and stood next to the man as he spoke to the woman. The woman seemed unaware of the man and his words, but he kept speaking.

As I listened, I realized that the man was telling the woman all the things that were wrong with her. Every once in a while, he would mention something good about the woman, but the vast majority of his comments were critical. The women continued to remain unaware of the man and his words.

Slowly I realized that the woman was me—or me five years ago. And much of what the man said was true, at least five years ago. It seemed odd, because the man would often turn to the current me to make sure I was listening to his speech to the old me in the cage.

After listening for a few minutes, I calmly walked off. The man wasn’t going to stop his verbal onslaught, but I didn’t have to stick around to listen to it. The criticisms were no longer valid as I had grown and changed much in the last five years. The woman in the cage was a memory only.

Living Free of Your Past Quiz

  1. How often do you hold yourself, or others, to things of the past that are no longer valid?
  2. Do you allow your perceptions to change as God continues to change you, and others, into his image?
  3. Do you listen to the speeches of the enemy in your head? How do you know?
  4. Do you realize that another’s negative opinion of you is not God’s opinion?
  5. Do you realize that your judgment of another is not God’s judgment?
  6. Can you allow others to judge you falsely and not let their judgments dictate who you are?

Are you the man or the woman in the picture? Can you walk away from the cage and the accuser to live the life God is currently giving you? After musing on this picture for awhile, I found I had been both the man and the woman at different times in my life. How about you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

If you found this story helpful, please share it with one of the Share and Enjoy buttons below.

Share this post with your friends: 

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Lilly Green

    I am a journal person, and I felt convicted some time ago that Love does not keep a record of wrongs. But my record of wrongs are in a box under my bed. I am in the process of going through and whiting out the forgiven wrongs while leaving the family keeper-memories in tact. It was useful at the time–cathartic release. But if God forgives, and I do too (at least I’m working on it 🙂 ) then the record serves no purpose but to indict. Lord, help! May we have His intentionality in choosing to forgive others, as well as oursleves.

  2. Susan Gaddis

    I’m currently working through some forgiveness things that have come my way lately, Lilly. Your words are a good reminder of what I strive for–intentional forgiveness. Not easy, but Kingdom business, and I’m working on it. Thanks for sharing.

Leave a Reply