Getting ready to drive off in my wife’s car the other day, I checked and adjusted her mirrors. I first adjusted the side mirrors and then finally the rearview mirror. And suddenly, it dawned on me. 
Ever notice how much smaller the rearview mirror is than the windshield?
Of course I realize that this is not some startling new discovery. Anyone who drives knows that the rearview mirror is much, much smaller than the windshield for very obvious reasons.
But as I sat there before I drove off, I wondered just how fast and how far you could drive if the windshield was the size of the rearview mirror, and the rearview mirror was the size of the windshield!
Not An Idea For GM!
No, I am not losing my mind with a wild brainstorm idea for General Motors! I 
am trying to make a point. We all know that the reason the windshield is so much bigger is because the road ahead of us is so much more important than the road behind us. We need to see and focus clearly on as much of the road ahead as we can.
This is so true in living life. Where we are going in life is so much more important than where we have been. Yet far too many people are living in their past. They live day to day staring into their rearview mirror with all their focus and attention on what happened to them in the past, instead of looking forward to the future.
What’s In Your Past?
People are living with regrets, guilt, shame, disappointments and discouragements resulting from things in their past. Many people go around feeling sorry for themselves. Some are living with anger or seek revenge from being hurt. Regardless of what has happened or how they feel, they all have one thing in common: they are all starring into their rearview mirror.
What is there in your past that you can change? Absolutely nothing. What great profit is it to spend your time and mental focus on the past? There is none. Even if there were some really fantastic things in your past, they are all still in the past.
Some people are still trying to live back in the “good ol’ days,” back when their lives were so much better. They think about it and relive a happier time without all the stress or hardships that they face now. Doing that is still looking into the rearview mirror!
The Way To Move Forward Is To Move Forward!
Yes, there are disappointments in life, some small, and some not so small. But if you are going to move forward with your life, you have to put your eyes on what is ahead. As you drive your vehicle, you not only see the road immediately in front of you, but you can also see a good ways up the road.
So why not do that with your life? Stop dwelling on the past. Stop reliving it over and over and over. Stop talking about it. It is over with and there is nothing that can change what has happened in the past.
Of course, there may be circumstances that you have to deal with as the result of something that has happened in the past. Take care of those, but then be determined to move forward.
Confidence In God
The Bible talks about forgetting those things which are in the past. That means that it is a freewill choice to let go of the past. We can choose to look forward or to look backward.
When you are driving your vehicle, you can’t get very far without running into something if you’re constantly looking into the rearview mirror. I don’t recommend trying this! And neither do I recommend doing it with life either.
If you want to have confidence in God, take your focus off of the past. If you have read “My Story,” then you know I have done this numerous times in my life. And I know it’s not always easy. But I also know it’s the only way to move forward.
If you want to move forward with your life, then stop looking back, ask for God’s help, and keep looking and moving forward.
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Did you find this article helpful? Do you have a comment about letting go of the past? Has forgetting the past helped you to move forward? I love to hear your thoughts, just type them in below.
Mike Verdicchio
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I READ YOUR MESSAGE STOP LOOKING BACK, YES IT HELP ME ALOT, I BEEN TRYING SO HARD TO MOVE FORWAD, LET NOTHING GET IN MY WAY, I KNOWS IN MY SPIRIT WHAT GOD HAD PROMISE ME, I BELIEVE WHAT I SAW IN MY VISION GOD MAKING ME AN MILLIONAIRE, GOD TOLD ME I WILL HIT THE LOTTERY, IN MY DEEP SLEEP, I HEARD GODS VOICE, I HAD AN VISION MONEY FALLING DOWN MY BEDROOM CEILING I ASK GOD WHO MONEY IS THIS HE STATE ITS YOUR MONEY, I SAW MY NEW HOUSE, CAR, BUSINESS, ME GIVING OUT MONEY BAGS WITH AN APPLE ON IT,WITH AN WHITE BOW, I ASK GOD WHO DO HE WANT ME TO GIVE THEM TOO, INSIDE WAS MONEY, I DREAM OF AND 7 FLOOR SPIRL STAIR CASE ROUND, INSIDE AN BIG HUG HOUSE, IT THE DREAM I SAID TO MY MOTHER, MAMA GOD GAVE ME EVERYTHING I WANTED, IT WAS MY HOUSE AND EVERYTHING I ASKED GOD FOR, ALSO I DREAM OF AN SOILD GOLDEN MOUNTAIN, MY FEETS STANDING IN GOLD, AS I LOOKED DOWN I HEARD GOD VOICE SAY LOOK UP,MY DAUGTHER AWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE PASS SHE CAN”T LET IT GO, I AM SICK AN TRIED OF HEARING ABOUT HER PASS TROUBLES AND SO CALLED FRIENDS I TOLD HER SHE NEED TO LET GO, SHE CREATED HER OWN LIFE PROMISES, I CAN’T STAND TO BE AROUND HER NOR MY SON THEY LIVE IN THE PASS, BUT I LOVE THEM, BUT I HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD, THEY BOTH LOVE DRAMA, START TROUBLE, LOVE TO TEL;L LIES, WHEN THEY DON’T GET THIER WAY, TO MISS UP OTHER PEOPLE BUSINESS, THAT THEY THINK IS DOING BETTER THAN THEM,I SENSE DEMONS IN THEM, TRYING TO PULL ME DOWN, BUT I KEEP MOVING FORWARD AND TRUSTING IN GOD, I HAVE AN VISION, GOD PUT IN MY SPIRIT, I NEED GOD TO HELP ME GIVE BIRTH TO IT, MANIFEST IT, BRING ITG FORTH INTO AN EXISTING REALITY, MY ENEMIES ARE MY OWN TWO CHILDREN BEVERLY AND LARRY, I TRY TO STAY SO FOCUS ON GOD JESUS , BY PRAYING, ASKING GOD TO MOVE ME AWAY FROM THEM, PRAY THAT I MOVE AND GOD WILL BLESS ME WITH THE MONEY I NEED TO MOVE FROM THIS PLACE SOME AS POSSIBLE BEFORE NOV2009,INTO MY OWN HOUSE PAID IN FULL, AND BLESS DAVE WITH HIS CAR, MY OWN BUSINESS, AND PRAY FOR MY TWO LYING DEMONS KIDS, HOPE THEY FIND THEY WAY BACK TO THE TRUTH, BACK TO GOD, LIVE THIER OWN LIFE AND STAY OUT OF MINES, IN JESUS NAME I ASK AMEN
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for leaving a comment.
God has indeed promised to supply all that we need. Perhaps you might want to read some of the posts I have done on “prosperity.” You can access them above, on the blue tab bar, by clicking on the word, “prosperity.”
God bless you,
Mike
Mike, I always read your articles and they never fail to address a need or a question in my mind. I was saved as a small child, backslid in nursing school and recommitted to the Lord in 1977…He, in his compassion and mercy forgave me and I love Him soooo much.
But articles such as these,help us grow. I am sorry I can’t send support….in a wheelchair, with broken bones many years….but I support you by prayer….have a list beside my bed, to pray for. Thank you so much for your hard work and staying close to the Lord for his teaching. Blessings, Rosie West
Rosie, thank you so much for your very kind and loving support in being a part of this project of mine. God bless you!
I’ve just recently discovered your website and am really blessed bythe Word of God you share here! This one is particularly relevant to my life right now. Thank you SO much, Mike, and God bless you.
Glad you found this site, Dawn, and glad what you found was timely, too. God bless you!
Hi Mike ! 🙂 God Bless You !!! Oh my , here it is 2013 ! Am not sure when you wrote this, maybe back in 2009. But I just read it and it applies to me. As it has numerous times in my life. That is what is so cool about God’s Word. It will never get old, it will never change what He has authored; it is a LIVING word. It will always be helpful to all generations so as to have a true vital spiritual relationship with God, which is what God desires us to have; with that said, it occurred to me, prior to reading your article on not looking back as God commands us not to do and for a very good reason! There is no profit in it and it really is as grave as life and death! Does that seem rather far fetched, no it is not, not at all ! We have all had are battles in this life, sometimes time to breathe, so to speak, between each one and sometimes no time to breathe between each one. And of course we know with the no time to breathe in between each one is designed to steal, kill and destroy. So over the last few weeks I have thought about this and have not liked what I have seen and I said to myself, unless I make some humungous changes, guess who is going to win…If need be which it will,. I will take my last breath continuing to stay in the battle ! However; the battle does not have to be all absorbing. simply because we all have one man that won the battle for us. When I take my eyes off God and Jesus Christ, I am most certainly bound for failure. Trying to do it on my own just does not work ! And generally speaking I find that I don’t even realize I am trying to do it on my own. God has said so many times in the Bible do NOT look back. Focus on what is ahead and your high calling in Christ Jesus. Well of course the Devil does not play fair and if he can’t get you one way he will try everything in “the book” to get you and hit you right below the belt a thousand times. Oh only if he had written a book ! I thought when did all this stuff all start to happen to me……As I thought, this is ALL to weird. And then I thought about the design of all the stuff and realized it was 1): to take me out of fellowship with God .2): Which then leads to not trusting Him. 3): Which then leads to illness,4): which then is partial to whole death. God says in His Word that a broken spirit drieth the bones. I have come to find over the years that what He said on that point is not a figure of speech, but that it is literally true. Out of fellowship brings stress and that is a number one killer because our thoughts are all kiddie whompus and so He says cast all your cares upon me for I careth for you ! And when one’s spirit has been so ripped up it brings unbelieveable illness to you and that will get you. But God in His mercy and graciousness will show us these things that are killing us in part or all together. Hence; do Not look back, do Not quit, move forward, look through the windshield and Not the rearview mirror for there is nothing back there that is going to help you focus on what is ahead and one will lose all motivation to move ahead if they are constantly looking back at the painful things or for that matter the “good times”…they are gone.. all we have now is today; moment by moment….we do not even have the luxury of hour by hour. At this given moment the two examples I can think of is one, when John the Baptist got his head knocked off in the morning and Jesus Christ stayed focused and went out and gave and healed the folks in the afternoon. The other that comes to mind is how badly Jesus Christ did not want to go through that torture, but had to moment by moment keep his thoughts focused on God to make it through for the joy that was set before him. And he was just a man like all of us. So with this long novel, I thank you, Mike, once again for your unfailing faithfulness to continue on with Confidence and Joy even when there is a person, such as myself, that does not comment until 3 years later, Oh My !!! It reminds me of when I got in the Word, so to speak, from a letter that was sent to me and I did not respond for 5 years, but always carried it with me knowing that somehow it was very important…and then of course I could not get enough Bible to fill me and bought every book in the book store..in fact the whole book store came to me 🙂 That was quite a sight to see 🙂 Prayers to you and your family always and huge hugs !!! Carol <3
Thanks for your comments, Carol, and for taking the time to write.
At the end of his life, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith.”
That is all any of us can do – just do our best and stay put on the Truth we know, and as we learn more Truth, stay put on that.
As difficult as it is sometimes, at least we know how it will all end – really, really good!
Until then, we keep looking to Him for His help and direction.
God bless you!
think you people think that they need to bring up the past thinking that their testermony will help people change there life . but i thgink you need to tell them about christ jesus the power is in him that when the change come about
Yes, Ed, the past is the past – good or bad, but the power is in Christ Jesus!