Our past can define us – or it can refine us. Listen as guest host Bill Arnold talks with broadcaster Christin Ditchfield about how to let God redeem our past.
Christin shares what many people wrestle with. “This can’t be the life Jesus promised – constant discouragement, constant weight [of guilt and shame]… I hear people say we just need to rest in God’s grace, which I believe. But then what do I do with all those Bible verses that say ‘make every effort’ and ‘study to show yourself approved’… verses that seem to show a responsibility I have?”
Christin and Bill discuss:
• The danger of false expectations in faith and life.
• What we can learn from C.S. Lewis and Corrie ten Boom about expectations and accepting the process of growing in Christ.
• How men and women carry guilt differently. Christin focuses on women and their tendency to carry guilt because they aren’t able to care for every single person who crosses their path. On a lighter note, women tend to get in trouble with their words more often than men.
“The average woman speaks four times as many words as men, so we have lots of opportunities for conversational regrets…”
• The different approaches Satan and Jesus take to our past. “Satan loves to remind us of past mistakes. Jesus doesn’t.”
• The steps to freedom.
1. Remember who you are.
2. Identify your true priorities.
3. Celebrate your failures as well as your successes.
4. Remember Whose we are. Christin suggests writing a Scripture and putting it somewhere you’ll see it every day.
“Ultimately I want to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings… whatever it takes to get me there, I want that. It’s a daily thing, constantly learning to surrender more and more to Him.”
Key Scriptures: Psalm 18:6, 16
Theme Song: Lead Me to a Rock by Emmanuel Live (featuring Mark Alan)
