2023
“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 NIV)
“No amount of regret changes the past, no amount of anxiety changes the future, any amount of grateful joy changes the present.” — Ann Voskamp
Yesterday or the past still lingers around me. I know my past is what made me who I am today, but I wish sometimes I could go back an erase some of the incidents that happened to me so I could move forward to the present. Our lives, my brothers and sisters, were difficult growing up but there were times of joy in the toil. On a farm one is blessed with many animals of sorts. We had this pet deer that was adorable when it was a young yearling with lots of polka dots on it’s tiny body. We bottle fed him. We loved that little fella but before we knew what happened, Buster, that is what we named him, grew to be a big deer with a rack of horns numbering eight to ten. He not only was huge but mean. We could no longer go outside to play without him charging us and if he caught us the attack began! My oldest brother decided maybe if he tied a rope with a tire attached that would slow him down. No way. One day walking home from school we had to cross a field before reaching our house, we looked across the field and saw Buster. We took off running as fast as our legs propelled us to the safety of a tree. We scurried up that tree and made it to safety before Buster caught up to us. He even tried to climb the tree to attack us. The tire on the rope slowed him but he was a strong and mean deer and he moved so swiftly that the rope holding the tire looked strangely like a flying tire tethered to a string. Well, I guess you would say that was the end of Buster. My mother told my brother he had to go before he killed one us. My brother’s friend wanted him; I never knew if his friend wanted to kill him for a plate of venison or keep him around for breeding purposes. I didn’t want to know because i loved Buster regardless of his meannesses.
There were many happenings in my country upbringing and sometimes I wonder how in the world we lived to talk about them. But we did. I really believe it was because of my mother’s prayers. She read Psalms 91:1-5 daily and believed what she read:
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,”
Yes, my lingering past is parked in my psyche somewhere, but as Isaiah 43:18-19 says “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past……..God is doing a new thing in me/you”. He will make a way for me/you to stay in the present – forgetting the past and leaving the anxieties of the future in His hands.”
Just a thought by coppi
Just a thought by coppi 
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