Getting Over It

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
(Jn 10:10)

There are two spiritual forces exerting influence in our lives, one the essence of evil, and One the essence of good. We can love and belong to Jesus Christ, and yet still be under destructive influence in some areas of our lives. From this spring board we could dive into many different areas, but today I am thinking of negative things in the past that we can’t seem to get over.

I recently responded to “You can pray for God to bless you, or you can pray for God to mess with you until you’re not a mess any longer.” It took three days before I figured out what was happening to my life. I knew I was a mess, but I quickly became an over achiever in it. I was even an offence to myself.

It all centered on some things and some people in the past that I had not gotten over yet. Being in the mood for a sad country song, I listened to “He Stopped Loving Her Today” sung by George Jones and found at http://www.homestead.com/LOL2/hestopped.html, if you are so inclined. I almost immediately turned into a basket case

If I haven’t lost you yet, and you are still hanging in there, here are the words to the song:

HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY

Lyrics and Music By
Bobby Braddock and Curly Putnam

He said, "I'll love you till I die."

She told him, "You'll forget in time."

As the years went slowly by

She still preyed upon his mind

He kept her picture on the wall

Went half crazy now and then

He still loved her through it all

Hoping she'd come back again

Kept some letters by his bed

Dated 1962

He had underlined in red

Every single "I love you"

I went to see him just today

Oh, but I didn't see no tears

All dressed up to go away

First time I'd seen him smile in years

He stopped loving her today

They placed a wreath upon his door

And soon they'll carry him away

He stopped loving her today

Spoken:

You know, she came to see him one last time,

We all wondered if she would

And it kept running through my mind

This time he's over her for good

This man’s life became defined by that which he couldn’t get over. It played and preyed upon his mind like a stuck record. It influenced how he lived out the rest of his time, as it forever discolored his perspective of life. He never got over it until he died.

In the middle of my weeping and wailing, I came to a decision. I didn’t want to wait until I died to get over some things that were bothering me. I did not want my life to be defined or determined by things I hadn’t gotten over.

Now, I did not know there were some things I hadn‘t really dealt with lurking in me. I thought I had already dealt with, forgiven, and was moving on past them. Come to find out I was just trying to get around them.

I wasn’t telling God anything He didn’t already know, but I told Him they were there, and I couldn’t get over them, didn’t know how to, and didn’t even know if I wanted to. I asked His forgiveness for hanging on to some hurts, forgave the hurters and disappointers that I had been blaming for the way my life has turned out so far, and asked Him to do a work of grace in me. He is.

If we are going to live the life that Jesus came to give us, then we are going to have to get over some things. We can feed upon what we can’t get over or we can feed upon the Word of God, but we can’t do both. The devil feeds us the bitter bread of the past, and uses it to paint our future. God makes bitter water sweet and fills our lives with his presence and purpose.

Now it is your turn. Will you wait ‘til you die to get over the things you may need to get over? Will you view life through the filter of what you cant get over, or the filter of God’s grace? You say you don’t know if there is anything you haven’t gotten over? Have I got a prayer for you!