Stop living in the garbage of your past
We all have a past.
Things happened to you and people said things that hurt.
And you may be ashamed of what you did or said.
All those memories fill the dumpster of your past.
So what are you going to do with it?
Are you going to be imprisoned in it or throw it out?
This week you will learn how to unlock your dumpster, climb out and dispose of it.
So click on the video and stop letting the past limit your future.
To live a transformed life you must step out of the dumpster of your past and step into the future that God has waiting for you.
Now I want to hear from you
How has God released you from the dumpster of your past? Just leave your comments below.
Iâll talk to you next week,
Grant
Comments 24
What an awesome reminder. This was great! Thank you!!
Great representation and reminder. Thanks dr Mullen. Especially for the reminder also to ask god to show us the lies that we believe as a result. That’s real scary sometimes. Why is that? You think you’d always be happy to find out they are lies. Maybe sometimes it’s cos you can get comfortable believing them and believing the truth means having to change and take risks?
Forgiving myself is very hard to do, you can almost say I find it impossible.
I did a lot of terrible things even as a believer. due to my behaviours I am separated from my husband and he has full custody of our kids.
forgiving God is also quite hard too.
Just a few months back God revealed to a believing pastor and my christian councelor that I had suffered from sexual abuse when I was a baby.
I’m angry when I know God saw it all and did nothing to stop that person.
I have repressed memories.
I am now on the road to healing and for that I thank God. Without an intimate relationship with God, I would be worse off.
Boy was that like looking in a mirror at the huge dumpster I used to carry around. But slowly piece by piece that dumpster gets emptied, but only through the power of Christ. It just won’t happen any other way. I spent over 40 yrs trying the other ways and the dumpster actually got fuller.
So thx Grant for this weeks session.
Madelene. Since God has forgiven you, then you have the right and responsibility to forgive yourself. Only Satan wants to keep you in unforgiveness to yourself. Don’t let him continue to keep you in that bondage! Remember Paul the Apostle did some very terrible things and he then became a New Testament hero.
Also, I’m very cautious when a person tells you that you have been abused as a baby when God hasn’t revealed that to you directly. It may unfairly accuse an innocent person of a crime.
Ask God to reveal the memories that he wants to heal.
May God bless your recovery journey. Thanks for sharing.
This is a vivid brilliant reminder of how we can and should be free from the past. Thank you!
Thank you for the great encouragement and reminder.
I am…sad to say in a huge pit and am having a very hard time trying to get out. l have been saved for over 20 years and the last few years have been the most trying times of my faith. Answer this please…if you forgive the ones who have deeply hurt you and your family (some sexual abuse)…do you have to “prove” your forgiveness by having a relationship with that person…because l don’t want to even look at that person, but l choose to forgive them.
Kirk, I’m glad you raised that point. I just answered it on my Facebook page. Forgiveness is personal. No one else’s cooperation is needed, it’s just between you and God. It is completely different from reconciliation with does require cooperation from another. You can forgive and not reconcile and still set yourself free. So to answer your question, no you don’t need to be in relationship with them.
Like so many who have responded here I suffered sexual,physical and emotional abuse.At a certain point in my life these memories surfaced and I did not want
to believe what I was remembering. I was in a dumpster but did not realise it. When these things surfaced I had two choices as I saw it. Face them with God’s help or stuff it all back down- ignore it but the trouble with stuffing it back down is that it continually re surfaces and causes more pain in the long run.(been there). When the memory resurfaced about being abused by my father I was shocked, hurt, extreamly angry. I wanted to go right over to his home and stick a knife in him.
It’s ok to feel angry about such things( I was feeling guilt about being angry). It
took over 2 years to work through the issues until I could honestly say I had forgiven him (Giving up the right to get back at the person). During this time my mother would say give your dad a hug goodbye… I could hardly be in the same room as him but I kept looking to God to help me forgive him (so that I might be set free – not him .. he had to deal with the issue with God himself. I got too that point of forgiveness and even confronted him on the issue taking more abuse and rejection from my mother who did not believe me (I was 29yrs old at this time) but my father did admit it and I had another process of learning to forgive her. I was civil to my father after that but a space was good. The test came some months later when he was dying in hospital of lung cancer. He was bringing up a lot of tar and he was helpless to even wipe it from his mouth. My 4 siblings could not face visiting but god’s grace gave me the love to nurse him
for a number of days before he died. He could not speak at this point but his
eyes looked at me in a way that showed he was puzzled at the care I was giving him! I gently took the opportunity to remind him of the talks we had about
my relationship with the Lord and how Jesus loved him and forgave him just as
I was now able to forgive him. I don’t know what decision he came to but I am free and I have more work to do with god’s grace to heal the hurts that I received from my life and the opportunity to admit and ask forgiveness of others that I have hurt. The hardest for me is to forgive myself as the beliefs/lies that are ingrained about myself go very deep and this is a ongoing process to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind…. reminding myself what God says and thinks of me… I am on a journey and would encourage others to go this road too because his love , hwaling and grace are powerful. Barbara
I am in a dumpster. For years now, I hate myself,
my work, my family
How do you just say, Im amazing
I have the cds, I ve been to church groups
Im just stuck.
Thank God that though I’ve been in the dumpster in the past and have seen the danger of believing a lie about my unworthiness, etc. I’ve experienced the freedom of forgiving and forgiveness. BUT the thing I really wanted to comment on is your terrible fall from a cruise in the “Good Ship Gluttony” to a dumpster! What did you do” What a terrible fall. I can’t help but notice that the dumpster is double locked on the escape door. I hope some kind person comes by and gives you some fresh food! I love your sense of humor.
Wow what a powerful representation of how or where we live . When we live in unforgiveness I don’t think I will ever forget the symbolism (thanks for being humble enough to hop on in there) I think I will forever remind myself of that . Even the part at the begining where you took the garbage of another person. I think that is what we do when we live in unforgiveness too . We take trash from others because our hearts are so filled with its own garbage we just become use to it. Very vivid!!!
Funny analogy. You did a great job on this video Dr. Grant. I have had my share of dumpster living and still struggling but wanting to be totally free. Barbara, my heart goes out to you. You are amazing (by God’s grace), to take car of your dad after all that.
Dr. Grant: I really enjoy your weekly visits. It is deep wisdom with humour and I receive it with joy. You did come to my church – First Assembly (Calgary, AB)
I would love it if you both decided to come back again.
Love in Christ, Shirley
These are very moving stories of the power of forgiveness. Thanks so much for sharing.
Patricia, if you are feeling stuck you can meet with me at a coaching appointment:
https://drgrantmullen.com/coaching
or you can meet with a counsellor to help you get unstuck.
Ray, thanks for your concern about my time in the dumpster. It was only for a few days, Kathy calmed down and eventually let me out.
Ed,
Thanks for your encouraging comment. God’s ability to heal our deepest hurts
is amazing. When we take the courage to let him in and face the pains that life brings it is mind blowing.My journey has been very painful – full of abuse, rejection and abondonment but also very character building. My relationship with the Lord has changed from ” I know about Him to i know him -it is his LOVE power and strength that brought me through AND IS STILL WORKING IN ME TODAY AS I CONTINUE ON MY JOURNEY.. THERE IS REAL HOPE – I TESTIFY TO THIS .. HE IS THE ANKOR OF MY SOUL!!
I can even say that I am excited to see what he will do in my life next and in the life of my family.
If anyone out there is struggling in similar issues I am open to sharing the journey I have walked or answer questions from my experience to help you get out of your present dumpster. No strings attached.
Barbara
Barbara, thanks for sharing your very powerful story and thanks for your offer to help others. I’m so impressed with our online community here and your willingness to share honestly and help others. You make Jesus proud!
Thanks, Dr Grant, for this video.This is exactly where I’m at right now in my walk with the Lord .Only last night, some hurtful memories of the past came to the surface of my mind and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I had to release people whom I had not truly forgiven for hurting me. For the first time, I was also able to forgive myself not just from my lips but my heart.I also came from a background of sexual, verbal and emotional abuse. I have believed tons of lies about myself and am constantly having to renew my mind to God’s Word and His way of thinking.I long to see myself the way God sees me; that’s my goal.This video pretty much confirms everything I am dealing with right now.God Bless..
My dumpster had been chockful of half truths,and lies that effectively bound me . so much had been covered up and tucked away. All the anxiety fears, dread crippled me, and i would tell myself it was me . When I began participating in a group making honest inventories and such the anger that masqaraded as depressin came out and that I could deal with. I t was then I could face the stuff God revealed to me. It was like pealing layers from an onion . one layer at a time, small steps. some big ones. yeah forgiving was a nd is hard. but I am able tohave compassion for my mother instead of hate. I will not trust her, because she has mental illness that is now untreated. Thank God that I am free, and I am working wih my sons who are adults and they are changing too.we all crry emotional scars. I am fortunate that God in his wisdom gave me a dear husband who is long suffering, patient and kind. But I know that there is far more in store.I think that i am so fortunate and thank God constantly for all the help and healing he sends me, and I now incude you in this list. Keep up the work
Thanks Norma. I’m glad your dumpster is getting smaller and smaller.
I actually wonder how come you labeled this post, âTired of living in a dumpster?
It’s because too many of us live in the dumpsters filled with our emotional baggage. It’s time to crawl out!
I read this in a devotional lately and it’s had an impact on me. “Stop holding on to something God has already let go.”
It can be hard to forgive ourselves….but the lies of the enemy will make this more difficult. Blessings and thank you!