I've been praying for my husband's past (as well as mine). Here is a prayer from a book by Stormie Omartian:
"Lord, I pray that You would enable (husband's name) to let go of his past completely. Deliver him from any hold it has on him. Help him to put off his former conduct and habitual ways of thinking about it and be renewed in his mind (Eph 4:22, 23). Enlarge his understanding to know that You make all things new (Rev 21:5). Show him a fresh, Holy-Spirited-inspired way of relating to negative things that have happened. Give him the mind of Christ so that he can clearly discern Your voice from the voices of the past. When he hears those old voices, enable him to rise up and shut them down with the truth of Your Word. Where he has formerly experienced rejection or pain, I pray he not allow them to color what he sees and hears now. Pour forgiveness into his heart so that bitterness, resentment, revenge, and unforgiveness will have no place there. May he regard the past as only a history lesson and not a guide for his daily life. Wherever his past has become an unpleasant memory, I pray You would redeem it and bring life out of it. Bind up his wounds (Psalm 147:3). Restore his soul (Psalm 23:3). Help him to release the past so that he will not live in it, but learn from it, break out of it, and move into the future you have for him."
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Past events may shape our lives, but the events themselves have little power. It's the deeply embedded thought patterns and emotional reactions that enslave us, if we don't break the cycles.
ReplyDeleteGod has helped me begin to recognize my reactive patterns as they emerge, so I know I am not responding rationally to the immediate situation or person. Through awareness, I can "watch" my thoughts and feelings before they take full bloom, and then I have a choice how to RESPOND, rather than just mindlessly REACT. And more often than not, the negative reactions fizzle out just because I know what's happening inside myself. I see the situation more clearly and experience more inner peace and compassion.
"Lord, give me an open heart and mind to see the negative patterns I've developed because past events, and help me be willing to respond with love and compassion. Then I will experience the peace that passes understanding."