Holding on to memory

Our minds remember so well, it's too much for our own good. We often use the phrase- "if my memory serves me well" to refer to something we recall but in some cases our memory does not serve us well at all but leads us to some of the darkest, scariest, painful, rodent, vermin and cobweb infested places in our minds that we would be better off not revisiting.

There was this movie I watched and didn't find useful in all the ways movies can be- the plot was confusing and the moral of the story was lost on me, but there was one line in the movie I intentionally committed to memory and made a mental note- to- self to recall.

-First violated by the act then violated by the memory over and over again-

It stuck because it stung!

How often do we allow ourselves to re-experience the pain we felt when something scary or bad happened to us, by remembering it and re-living in it?

How often do we allow ourselves to be violated by our memories long after the actual events have passed? Memories of an injustice real or perceived filter through our thoughts without invitation and suddenly we are twisted in knots over something someone had said or done in a distant or not so distant past.

Tragedies re-enact themselves in bad dreams and bad memories and even our bodies remember and imitate symptoms of previous illness in the midst of recovery and shaken by the memory, the sick person is attacked by the fear of a relapse.

These memories can become a foot hold for the enemy to hold us in bondage to fear, unforgiveness, anger, bitterness and progressively captive to sin - they most definitely do not serve us well.

I am learning each and every time fear invades my mind with a negative suggestion, to cast it down. Learning to catch myself each time I remember what this or that person did or said to me so I don't dwell on those sad memories. At any point in the movie of our memories, we can press the stop button and ask for God's help to let the anger/resentment/fear/worry go.

This is important because what we focus on will grow. If we stop rehashing those moments of pain and stop replaying our hurt, they will loose their hold on our memory and as we take it to God in prayer each and every time, our anger and pain over the situation will loose its hold on us and we will be truly free from both the act and our memory of it.

Read Part 2- letting go of memory here- http://omonaikee.blogspot.com.ng/2015/04/letting-go-of-memory.html