At an amusement park, you might find a roller coaster that has two lines. Over one line is a sign that says, "Forward," and over the other line a sign that says, "Backward." It's your choice to ride looking forward or looking backward. There are also two lines in life, and two cars you can ride in. One says, "Forward" and the other says, "Backward." You choose. You probably don't want to ride looking back at where you've already been. Instead, you probably want to ride looking ahead to see where you're going.
That's what God wants for you too. Here's what He says in Isaiah 43:18-19: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." God wants today to be the first day of the rest of your life, not just another day of what your life has been up until now. This can be page one of a whole new volume or just another page of the same old story.
Maybe you've been riding too long looking backward. You keep rehearsing and reliving the hurt of your past and your failures, the painful losses you've experienced, and the regrets over what you've done or what you should have done. That's the past, and none of it can be changed, but if you don't move beyond the pain, anger, bitterness, self-pity, grief, and self-condemnation, you'll miss the part of your life that can be changed - the future.
One of God's great representatives, Paul, said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). Jesus is the Lord of new beginnings, of fresh starts, and of clean slates. You need to come to Him and let Him release you from being tied to the people who've hurt you, by receiving His grace to forgive them. You need to ask His help to begin to define your life, not by what has happened, but by what's going to happen; things will change when Jesus is in charge of your life.
Just a few verses after God's call to forget the past and go for His new thing, He tells us how that's possible. He says, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions...and remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25). That's what Jesus wants to do for you and it's why He died on that cross and rose again from His grave. He paid the death penalty for every wrong thing you've ever done so He could erase your sin from God's book forever, because otherwise, your sin will cost you heaven.
It's a new beginning, a fresh start, and a clean slate. If you're at the point in your life where that's what you want, then it's time to give your life to Jesus Christ, the Lord of new beginnings. Make today the first day of a new life and a new you. You've been looking back long enough. There's no reason your life has to be just more of what it's been before, because Jesus has come to you today. With Jesus in your life, you'll never be the same.