Living Forward

Sixteen years at Grace Baptist for Brant and me. What treasured friendships we have developed over those years! Our “learning curve” has been challenged and that is always excellent. We have been encouraged  to “make right choices,” to “stay in, stay close, stay away, stay alert,” to pray more diligently. We have enjoyed SO MUCH the times with teens, college and career, our greeters, and FRIENDS! 

Cincinnati, Ohio, is now the home of the Holladay Inn. We have already enjoyed a display of gorgeous photos by our granddaughter-in-law in a local art gallery. AND...a birthday party for our one-year-old great-grand OLIVER.  AND... a birthday dinner/going away for our seventeen-year-old granddaughter who will be starting her freshman year in college!  

ENOUGH of this “love stuff.” Right after we arrived in Cincinnati, I phoned my dear “treasure of a friend” Jessie Sandberg. During our chat, she stated that she and Don are trying to “live forward.” Isn’t that a wonderful thought? An encouraging idea?  

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Ecclesiastes. In chapter 7 verse 10: “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” Or course, we also know that verses like Deuteronomy 8:2 state: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee...”

So is this a contradiction? To “live forward”? Someone has said that God doesn’t waste our experiences. Those experiences from our past should cause us to look to the future, to “live forward” trusting the Lord to use what we have already learned to aid us in our future endeavors.

God’s Word to us from Isaiah 43:18:

“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19a Behold, I will do a new thing...”

Let’s ask God to do a new thing in our lives, something that will challenge our faith and make us a more vibrant testimony for Him in the days ahead.

A friend of ours who had gone through a very difficult experience stated that “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

LIVE FORWARD. (Thank you, Jessie, for giving me this thought.)

--Maylou Holladay