{"id":127,"date":"2013-07-09T01:33:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T01:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihsteps.com\/wordpress\/?p=127"},"modified":"2013-07-09T01:33:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T01:33:44","slug":"the-shoulda-beens-by-tammy-maseberg-july-9-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTHE SHOULDA BEENS\u201d  By Tammy Maseberg, July 9, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cBrethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">yet; but one thing<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">I do<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">: forgetting what<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">lies<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">behind and reaching forward to what lies<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">ahead,<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">I<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">press on toward the goal for the prize of the<\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\"> <\/em><em style=\"text-align: left;\">upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Philippians 3:13-14, NAS)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We weren\u2019t exactly ready for the Pro Bowling Tour.\u00a0 Strikes and spares seemed to elude us\u2014one or two pins were left standing to mock us on a regular basis.\u00a0 \u201cThat shoulda been a strike!\u201d we said many times.\u00a0 So, our team became \u201cThe Shoulda Beens.\u201d\u00a0 It was perfect.<\/p>\n<p>I want to shout out that very same thing some days.\u00a0 There is a real danger, spiritually and emotionally, when we look too much at what should\u2019ve or could\u2019ve been instead of what is.\u00a0 This is a battle for me. \u00a0The reality is that we all have stuff in our yesterdays that can provoke regrets and guilt.\u00a0 Our past does play a role in who we are today, but God is lord of our past, present, and future.\u00a0 He knows all about our \u201cshoulda beens,\u201d and the struggles we have because of them.<\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->   <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c . . . forgetting what lies behind . . .\u201d <\/em>This word is true and exactly what God wants us to do\u2014to move on.\u00a0 However, I think we are also supposed to have \u201cselective memory.\u201d\u00a0 That is, the Lord wants us to be encouraged by remembering His faithfulness in the past.\u00a0 Think back on all the times that God came through for you during a challenging circumstance or seemingly impossible situation.\u00a0 <em>\u201c<\/em><em>Remember the things I have done in the past.\u00a0 For I alone am God!\u00a0 I am God, and there is none like me.\u201d\u00a0 (Isaiah 46:9, NLT)<\/em> Maybe He supplied the money for a necessity, or He filled you with peace when something hurtful or tragic happened.\u00a0 He promises to give us everything we need, when we need it:\u00a0 <em>\u201cAnd my God will meet all your needs\u00a0according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 (Philippian 4:19, NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What He says in His word we can count on.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 What a comfort that is!\u00a0 <em>\u201cThe grass withers, the flower fades, but\u00a0the word of our God stands forever.\u201d (Isaiah 40:8, NAS)<\/em> So, we can go forward from all the \u201cshoulda beens,\u201d whether those were of our own making or they were imposed on us from other sources.\u00a0 He promises to be with us<em> <\/em>as we move on.\u00a0 If He carried us through before, we can be sure He will again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lord, help me to always remember Your faithfulness to me in the past, knowing that You will also be faithful now and in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">\u00a92013 Tammy Maseberg All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBrethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Philippians 3:13-14, NAS) We weren\u2019t exactly ready for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-word-from-tammy-maseberg","tag-faithfulness-regret-guilt","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}