Look Not Behind Thee

Today I was reminded of the story of Lot's wife. In Genesis 19:17, it states:

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; ^alook not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the ^bmountain, lest thou be consumed.

The concept of "look not behind thee" consumes my thoughts tonight. Forget the past, don't dwell on it to bring you down, but look to the future with brightness of hope (2 Ne 31:20). I heard someone say that trusting in God in looking forward is like "coming to believe that what God has for me is bigger and better than what I have going on right now."

That is pure power. It is scary to turn your life over to God if you don't trust Him. But really, what is there to fear? God is my Father. He loves me. He doesn't want me to suffer. He wants me to learn, grow, and have joy. That may requires growing pains, but inevitably, whatever He has for me will be bigger and better than what I have going on for myself. This has been a hard lesson for me to even understand, much less learn. I am working on the learning right this minute and will from now on. God will stand by me. As I trust in Him, He will lead me in paths of righteousness and peace. I don't need to know where they go because I can trust that they will lead back to Him.

As this new year begins, my goal is to let my heart feast in the gospel--daily scripture study, meaningful prayers, bridling my passions (anger, for one!), and being filled with the pure love of Christ. I think that is probably everyone's "goal list", but as I read 2 Tim 3:1-7, 13-17 tonight, I feel humbled, like I have been shown some weaknesses: pride, selfishness, ingratitude, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," and so much more.

I love the Lord. I have great potential as His daughter. I haven't even begun to tap in to that potential, but I CANNOT look back and focus on my failures and shortcomings. That is what Satan wants. He wants me to believe I can never change. He wants to remind me that I can't possibly do what I haven't been able to do yet. But I don't want to believe him. He is not my loving father--he wants my soul to perish, to lose out on eternal life. He won't build me up--he only wants me to stay at the bottom of the path, believing it will be too hard to climb. What he doesn't want me to do is focus on the top--where my Father is. But I will. I won't look behind me! I will look to the top of the mountain, not believing for a minute it will be easy, but reminding myself always that I don't have to climb alone. As long as I ask (and even sometimes when I don't), my Father will be beside me, cheering me on, believing in me, showing me how I can climb better, leading me back to His presence and eternal joy! I can make it up the mountain--it is where I belong!