The Irreparable Past

I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions (that’s a story for another day) but at the beginning of this year, I made just one commitment. It was to live out a quote that Oswald Chambers makes in his book, My Utmost for His Highest. It says, “Leave the irreparable past in His hands and step out into the irresistible future with Him.”

I posted those words on my refrigerator and as I read them each day, I allowed them to become more and more a part of me. Was placing the irreparable past in his hands easy? Absolutely not! 2008 was a tough year but I made a commitment to bundle it all up and place it into His hands. At times during 2009, I wanted to grab things back out of those same hands and fix them myself. Because, I, of course, know better than the God of the Universe, right? Yeah, I’m thinking, maybe not.

Eugene Peterson translates Jeremiah 29:11 to say, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

I have my own translation for this verse. (Watch out Eugene Peterson!) My translation goes something like this: “For crying out loud, Sherry, don’t you know by now that I know what I am doing?!?!? I’ve got a plan and its great plan. I’m not going to let you down. You know that future you hope for, well, who do you think planted it in your heart in the first place? I did and if you’ll just trust me – you’ll begin to see it unfold.”

I don’t know what 2009 was like for you. Perhaps you had a lot of great things happen, maybe you had more not-so-great things occur than you’d like to admit, or maybe your year was a mix of two. Regardless, as you journey into 2010, I want to encourage you to “Leave the irreparable past in His hands and step out into the irresistible future with Him.”

You won’t be disappointed!