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It occurred to me today the journey set before me is very much part of the voyage I have already been on. We often look back at our past with regrets. When was the last time we looked back and thought “What a blessing!”?

I was listening to the words in a song that lyric:
Every long lost dream lead me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I see so many life experiences and failed dreams when I hear that song, and then I see my daughter’s arms wrapped around me. I see my husband, my family, and my home. I see the heartbreak our family experienced at the loss of my nephew Alex and the joy his brother Niko pours over our lives. Of course I see the future joy and pain we will experience the day we hold our son for the first time. My past has been very much a road of wisdom gained as I have been prepared for each blissful and sorrowful event of my life. “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief” Ecclesiastes 1:18.

I believe where joy and sorrow meet our past and our present collides. Our true test comes in whether we are prepared to use the tough experiences that broke us to touch other lives and help heal their past for their journey ahead. Are we keeping the most painful, most embarrassing experiences tucked away inside? What was the experience worth if we can’t share it? I think about those times when I can sit with a friend and cry because I know everything she is experiencing. How sweet it feels when I can avail myself to vulnerability in telling her “here’s what to expect on the other side, I know, I’ve been there”. Those words mean so much more to a suffering friend than ‘Everything happens for a reason’. There is nothing worse than an out of touch saying extended to someone in pain. What we do know is the sorrow is not meant to last forever.

Have you shared your past? Reflect on it, I would surmise if you’re holding on tight to your secrets, you have probably never healed from them. Have courage, our Father is faithful and our lives aren’t accidents, just like our life experiences aren’t accidents. Your past was meant to happen for a reason, the road you are on today is just where you are supposed to be. Don’t forget to praise Him for your past, as tough as it was, there really was a blessing in it, and you just might not have found it yet. And remember in the midst of our most painful moments, we are being shaped for the road ahead.

Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Isaiah 60:20