“To let go is not to regret the past,
But to grow and live for the future.”

When we are hurting over the choices and actions of our child we spend a lot of time dwelling on the past, reliving periods of time and events over and over again, looking for all the things we might have done wrong. We have a lot of “what ifs” and “if onlys” going through our heads and guilt plays a huge role in the pain that we are experiencing. The reality is that we can’t go back. There isn’t anything we can do about changing the things that have happened in the past.

Let’s face it, we have all done things in our years of parenting that we aren’t proud of. We have made mistakes along the way but obsessing over them now isn’t going to change anything, certainly not our child’s behavior. We can hang on to our guilt and let it devour us, or we can confess, repent and accept the forgiveness for our sins that has already been extended to us through Christ. In Acts 13:38 it says, “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.”

God has a plan for us, despite and apart from what our children are doing. We can only experience freedom from the past if we accept His love and His grace as we live in the now and look to the future. Let’s not let the past or the choices of our children dictate what the rest of our lives look like. Let’s not allow our identity to be tied up in the fact that we are Hurting Moms so that we miss out on the good things God wants for us.

Let’s focus on allowing Him to help us live and grow as we move forward towards the peace and joy that we long for.