Overcoming Your Past

Proverbs 3: 5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Brett Smith is one of my favorite people. Not only does he make the most amazing ice cream pops, and changed the idea of the creepy ice cream man by building relationships with his customers,  he also has proven that working for yourself is possible, and so is overcoming your past.

Brett is now shipping his ice pops!! Please check them out at http://www.dothanicecream.com/

Here are my favorite things that Brett said at Launch Out:

"We carry our past with us, everywhere. It's easy to remember and forget our past. Often we remember embarrassing details. The things that happen are usually bigger in my mind than what they are in real life."

"You can't move forward listening to the echoing voice inside your head." 

"You can't change your past, you can only control how you respond."

"We are constantly creating our past. The past moves in one direction and I don't have to go that way! That frees us to design a past worth remembering."

1. Acknowledge that you out grew your past. It's like trying on the jeans when you were 7 years old. You've grown, but your past remains where you left it.
2. Stop the story. The past is helpful to warn and warm us. You have no use for discouragements and blames. Say this to the voice in your head, "Thank you for sharing, you be quiet now, I"m going this direction."
3. Forgive! This is the most powerful. Some people leave holes in us and they will never fix it.

Brett held up a weight to show us that letting our past control us is like holding on to a weight. He asked, "How long do you want to keep carrying weight?"

Your future is waiting for you to drop the weight!

If we allow our past to dictate our future, we aren't living the way God intended for us to. Sure, we need to learn lessons from our past, but it's gone. We can't dwell on it any longer. We can't allow it to make us miserable in our present time.

Will you drop the weight? Maybe you need to ask God for help. He's there. He will help you. I promise. Keep moving forward!

God bless you today and always.