“Oh yes, the past can hurt, but you can either run from it, or learn from it.” Rafiki
Over Christmas, I found myself rewatching the Disney classic “The Lion King” and these words that I’ve heard perhaps hundreds of times before stopped me in my tracks.
As I’ve been reflecting on the years, delving into my history to draw the learning from it and finding the God I serve in the patterns of my past, I’ve sometimes been overwhelmed by the pain of it.
My words have swirled around my darkest days trying to make sense of them; and yet I’ve found myself running from the feelings the stories of my life provoke; both good and bad, because you can’t block bad feelings without blocking all feelings.
Rafiki’s words from the Lion King hit me because I’ve been trying to write my story without letting it move me. I’ve been facing it, but running backwards away from it.
It’s something we do often, I think. We face difficult stories, but we run from them at the same time. We run from who we were and how these stories changed us.
As Matt Bays writes though:
“To find our redemption, we must be willing to visit the scene of the crime and, unimaginably, stay there for a while. It will take some time to survey the damage to sit in the ruins with God and acknowledge its full impact on our lives. But if we are ever to take our power back, this necessary evil must be part of our journey.”
This year, I’m challenging myself to sit at God’s feet in the ruins and learn more about who He is and what He is calling us to.
This blog is my first step, to stop running and keep my gaze fixed on the one who gives vision.
Rachael Newham 
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