Don’t Get Stuck: Stay Forward Focused

The atmosphere was super charged with engines revving, loud clapping, laughter, hoots and hollers ringing in the air. All this noise, along with shouts of encouragement, made for everyone having fun.

Everyone but me.

When our kids were very young my husband purchased himself a jeep. A boy toy for sure.  At the time, we were a one car family and needed an extra vehicle for his commute to work, and it was what he wanted.

Once we moved to Washington and he made some new friends at work, friends that liked to go four-wheeling in the mud. I never really understood why anyone would want to do such a thing, it did not sound fun to me.  I mean, I had ridden in the jeep on the normal roads and it was exactly smooth, so why in the world would one want to go “off-road”? My husband however convinced me that it would be great fun – an adventure that we would all remember.

Our kids were little at the time, and being we had recently moved to a new state, we didn’t have anyone to watch them.  So of course, they had to go with us.  I tried to make the case, he would have much more fun and adventure on his own, but he wanted us to join in.

We met up with this group of individuals and spent part of the morning searching for rough terrain and big mud holes to go through. For the most part it was enjoyable, until they found “IT”! A gigantic deep mud hole.

I was skeptical to say the least as I watched vehicle after vehicle navigate this rather large hole filled with muddy water.  At first, they started at the edges of the whole, with 2 wheels in the watery hole and 2 on the ground we could see.  As I watched, I wondered just how deep it really was…. Let me just say, deeper than anyone thought.

I sat in the front passenger seat dreading the inevitable, when it would be our turn. The kids and my husband were having a blast. Again, me, not so much. Silently I watched as jeep and four-wheelers alike were taking on a huge mud filled adventure. I was gripping the roll bar above my head with one hand and the bar in front of me with the other.  I was holding on for dear life and we weren’t even moving yet.

Then, it was our turn. The kids were screaming and clapping excitedly. I was half screaming half praying at the time.  We hit the mud hole, and promptly got stuck.  As the jeep went down into the middle of the muddy hole and attempted to come out the other side, we got stuck.  Water got into the engine and was also coming in to cover the front floor board and I was not happy.  The kids thought it was awesome.  I was frantic as I thought what it would take to keep us mostly clean and dry.

We ended up eventually driving out of the mud hole, but needing a tow back into town.  Not only had water gotten into the engine and it didn’t want to start, but the u joints in the rear wheels broke and there was no way we were driving anywhere.  It was a miracle we got out of the hole, as the others had.

While mediating on Isaiah 43:18 this week, I felt the Lord prompt me about not getting stuck.  He reminded me of the story I just shared above, and the message was clear: “Don’t get stuck dwelling on the things of the past, because when you do, your life becomes stalled, stuck, with no forward momentum.”  The enemy makes it all too easy for us to get stuck in the past, but God does not want us to get stuck period.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. Isaiah 43:18

I have known people, and maybe you have too, who are living in the present, at the same time living in the past.  It doesn’t matter whether the times are good or bad, they are in the past.  When we stay focused on what’s behind we have a hard time seeing what’s ahead.

We should not get stuck dwelling on the past difficulties, failures, and hard things.

And…

We should not get stuck dwelling on the good ole days, victories, and successes.

These both can be a hindrance to us and cause us to get stuck in a place where we begin to get bogged down, flooded and overloaded.

Last week Patrick Weseman left a comment on my thoughts about “Moving Forward and not looking backwards so we don’t miss what was to come.  He said: “I always tell myself God put eyes where they are and it is because He wants to look forward and not backward.”

Moms think we should have eyes in the front, the back and even the sides of our heads to keep an eye on our kids at all times. But Patrick made a very good point. God put our eyes in the front for a reason.  There comes a time when we must stop looking back. We must stop dwelling on the past. We must get “unstuck” and begin to look for the new miracles ahead.

Dwelling on past problems and difficulties doesn’t necessarily solve anything. It just creates a hindrance to what God wants to do in the present. The new miracles will be nothing compared to the ones that came before. Oh no, they will be so much better.

Father God, we come to you in the precious name of Your Son Jesus, and we ask that you help us get unstuck. Please show us any area of our life where we are living in the past (good/bad) and then bring us out of the mud and help us to keep our eyes forward on what You are doing now, and what is to come.  We don’t want to miss anything you are doing. Amen.