Allow Yourself To Be FREED!!!

As I commented on Red's blog, I came to some more conclusions that I need to share. Red is struggling with letting go of some of her past. Because as awful and painful as those situations have been, they still have been instrumental in making her the amazing person she is today. (And she really is amazing!)

So...keeping that in mind, I am setting a new challenge for myself. From now own, I will not allow my past experiences to confine me. I will not be ruled by the guilt and shame that we all, as humans, experience in our lives. I will not allow those painful memories to bog me down, play mind games with me, or cause me to doubt myself.

I WILL, however, allow myself to be FREED by those experiences! This may sound like an extremely cheesy analogy...but bear with me for just a few! As I am sitting here typing, the carpet in our home is being cleaned. 2 men have been here for 3 hours slaving away at making our creamish-beigish carpet look like new. Just 4 hours ago, there were a few black marks, a few spots where children have spilled juice, a spot from where I spilled my precious Diet Coke (oops!) and the signs of carpet that has been trampled on, day in and day out, for the past 6 months. Hmmmm... months of wear and tear has been virtually erased within a matter of hours. This carpet's past is gone! Right now there are large fans blowing a new, fresh air onto the carpets so they can dry completely in their renewed state.

I believe the same goes for us human beings walking around, day in and day out, being trampled on, possibly trampling on others (intentional or not), soul's stained by the rigors of everyday life. The difference is that we have emotions, thoughts, and the ability to learn and grow. I have to backtrack a little because there is one stain that is not completely gone (the Diet Coke one...it can be brutal on carpet!). But the stain has definitely faded. That stain will always be there, reminding me not to have Diet Coke in arm's length of a rambunctious 2 year old! It is there reminding me of a mistake I ONCE made, but will never make again.

As humans, we never fully rid ourselves of the stains that represent life's experiences. But over time, those stains fade, those memories turn to gray. They don't have to completely hold us down or prevent us from moving on. We are not "ruined" because we made some mistakes. In fact, those mistakes are what help us progress to becoming more perfect beings. But it will take much longer than this lifetime to reach a state of perfection!

So, just remember, it is not our actions that define us. The mistakes we make do not make us who we are. They teach us the lessons necessary to become the person Heavenly Father always knew we could be. If only we could have that same faith in ourselves, we could constantly see the amazing people we are, even in a flawed and imperfect state. It takes time to heal from the past, but it is very possible and must be done on your own timeline to ensure you have learned the lesson intended for you to learn.

So good luck...keep your head up! Instead of living in a state of self-induced confinement, allow yourself to be FREED!!!