Looking out my front window this morning on this very windy, autumn day, I noticed that there were a lot of leaves in my yard that did not fall from any of my own trees. The leaves blew into my yard from some of my neighbor’s trees. My trees are not responsible for those leaves being there. But there those leaves laid…in MY front yard.

Sometimes things happen in our lives that have nothing to do with us. We did nothing wrong. We did not ask for this or that to happen. We were not responsible for a certain thing happening to us. But it still happened.

The winds of life blow many things into our “yard” where we didn’t ask for it to happen. Some things that happen to us are worse than others. Many people spend the rest of their lives pointing blame at everyone rather than choosing to deal with all those leaves in the yard. Those leaves will stay in my front yard until I choose to do something about them.

Has something happened to you that was not your fault? Is there a hurt or a wound that you are holding on to because of what somebody else did to you? We live in a fallen world and we deal with so many things from day to day. Perhaps it’s time to go into your yard (your heart) and take care of those things that have happened to you so you can be free to move on. It’s time to heal. It’s time to be whole. It’s time to get your joy and peace back. It’s time to love again.

I want to encourage you today to get your heart back on track with the Lord. Let the past be the past. Forgive those who hurt you. Let the Father’s love wash over you. God wants to do a new thing in your life! You are loved.

“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” Isaiah 43:18-19