She’s Not Here!

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings new life].” 1 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

Whenever you are doing something great for God, the enemy will always bring up your past. He will always take any opportunity he can to mention what you did wrong, what you failed at, or what you did in the dark. All those things from your past that you’d rather not dig up, those things that took you a while to forget – he makes it his mission to resurface every past mistake in a nasty attempt to disqualify you and disrupt your purpose! He simply cannot and will not stand for sitting idly by while you fulfill God’s will for your life on this earth and expand His Kingdom.

I know this to be true because I witnessed it in this past week. The devil was good when I was too busy to write and too distracted to keep ministering to my Spanish-speaking friends and family. He was good when I chose to take a break from serving in ministry because my personal life had taken an unexpected turn (more like a twist, turn, hydroplane, and multi-car crash). But when I made the decision to get back on it, writing, blogging, serving, ministering on social media; he dug up every piece of dirt I had ever done. That’s when I realized, I don’t recall ever forgiving myself for it. I know I’m forgiven, God has forgiven me. But I did a gut check, ‘had I formally forgiven myself?’ So, I wrote a letter to myself and I want to share part of it with you…

“Dear Giselle,

You have hurt a lot of people in the past. Before you knew God, before you accepted Jesus in your heart and allowed Him to change you; you were 100% trifling….But who you were is not who you are. You didn’t know the truth, you only knew facts, and how could you know? How, back then, could you be anything more than what you learned and witnessed growing up? Yes, what you did was wrong, but how could you have done differently if you had never seen what right looked like?…So, I forgive you for all of it because God has forgiven you, because you made Christ your Lord & Savior; so you are made new. The old things, the old you has passed away. She’s not here anymore…. And, even though, you’ll still make mistakes along the way, though you’ll fall short, hit a few bumps, and miss a few marks; I still and always will forgive you. I still and always will love you because God still and always will love and forgive you, too.

Yes, the enemy will always take the opportunity to remind you of your past. And, (saved, sanctified, blood-bought and all) I will never deny what I’ve done or who I was, as it all serves God’s purpose and there’s no shame. Sis, when the enemy comes at you talking in your ear, shooting darts at your mind, digging up your dirt; refuse to let him just go ahead and pull up your past! The person he’s talking about has passed away! She’s not here! Now, when the enemy wants to talk, I cut him off, “BUT now reborn and renewed! That chic is gone. Thank You Jesus!”