Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
I love traveling but I’m not one to enjoy packing and I really dislike unpacking, (I’ve been known to leave a half-unpacked suitcase on the floor for well over a week upon return). My sweet husband – having near broken a toe or two – now takes on the task of unpacking for me. He’s a kind man with a tender heart . . . and even more fragile toes.
Speaking of luggage, it seems like none of us reach womanhood without having accumulated a lot of emotional baggage ourselves. One of my favorite retreats is focused around women getting real and breaking free from the lies and labels that they have lugged around their whole lives. And boy have we ever hauled heavy loads!
The weight of our pasts can so weigh us down, ladies. From childhood, we take on titles and mean-spirited nick-names that follow us decades later – even if we deny it.
Our enemy never wants us to unpack those lies. He wants us to drag the dead woman from our past around with us until we finally drop into our graves from exhaustion and defeat. But that’s not what the Word says:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are made new! But until we choose to cast off the lies from our pasts, we will allow Satan a stronghold and trust me, he knows how to use it to pull us down.
Best advice I can give you is to understand who you are in Christ (a new, clean blood-bought-bride) and throw scripture at the dead ol’ lady. When you hear her try to whisper in your ear that you are still a so-and-so or that you did this-or-that . . . BOOM. State out loud your new identity and then a favorite verse or two. Truth smothers that dead corpse and she will eventually drop off your back.
It’s hard to summarize in less than five-hundred words what I teach over a weekend, but I hope you can grasp the idea. And, I love to hear victorious testimonies! My contact information is on my website – please share with me how and when you finally buried the mean, dead ol’ lady of your past.
Lord, I thank you that you made a way out . . . that you always make a way out. Help us Father to cast off the dead woman from our past and to take on the new life that you bring.
