In this episode, Anne-Mari Manninen shares insights on how to make every season count: seize the opportunity to forget and let go of the old and embrace the new, and become the wise person God is searching for!
Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
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.
Isaiah 43:18-19
This is God’s helpful advice for us to get over the past.
Forget means to neglect deliberately. It does not mean having any recollection of things, but we deliberately cease to think and talk about it. We forget everything we neglect.
God continues to advise us not to dwell on the past. Dwell means to live somewhere. So don’t relive things in your mind and repeatedly go around the same thought trail. Break the old thought patterns. Do this purposefully. It will not just happen because your past has a hold on your feelings.
Your sight is the key to stepping into the new. God says we must “see” the new he is doing. You can’t look back and forward. You will stumble if your gaze is not focused. Focus your mind and thoughts on something new. That something being the promises God gives us and his character of faithfulness and goodness.
Then lastly, we must perceive it. It means to become aware of new things coming and realize they can spring up quickly. Be ready in your heart to receive them. Prepare for something new.
This is God’s advice on how to move away from the past so that you can see how he is “making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
