Season 2: (Episode 36) Rewriting the Past: How Growth Changes Your Story

Have you ever looked back on a painful season and wondered why it still affects you so deeply?

What if the most powerful thing about your past isn’t what happened—but the meaning you’ve attached to it?

In this episode, Mandy explores a transformative truth: the events of your past are fixed, but the interpretation of those events is not. As you grow, heal, mature, and deepen your faith, your perspective changes. The same experience that once felt like devastation can become preparation. The wound that once defined you can become the testimony that empowers others.

Join Mandy as she unpacks how God often rewrites our understanding of the past—not by changing history, but by changing us.

Key Scripture: Genesis 50:20

Key Takeaway: Healing often begins when we stop asking, “Why did this happen?” and start asking, “What is God teaching me through it now?”

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

0:19

Well, hey, hey, hey. Welcome back, Change Chasers. I am Mandy, your host, and y'all, I'm so super mega grateful that you are here. Thank you so much for the gift of your time today. I'm actually really looking forward to discussing this topic because I guess it's just something that I have been growing through as, obviously, Change Chasers is all about self growth. And so today I wanted us to just be talking about, one of the things that I believe we can all connect with, and that is how do we deal with what has happened to us in life, right? How do we deal with our past? And so I wanted just to talk through that topic about how reality is,, it doesn't matter who you are. I think that our past will sometimes resurface, kinda beneath the surface, so to speak, and it might come hit us like a ton of bricks. There could be a smell, or you see something, or you visit a place, or maybe it's even having a meal that tastes just like your grandmother's and you miss her. I... You know, like just whatever it is, however you connect. It could be, uh, good, bad, or ugly, or a little bit in between the two. But I want us to talk about today as embracing maybe a different perspective that I have for you guys, is that I am so grateful. The Lord has been teaching me in my own growth journey as pursuing what I talk about, being a change chaser, is, friends, I wanna say that your past isn't fixed. Not the events. Those are fixed, right? We can't change those. We can't change what's happened. But I do believe that the meaning that we assign to them certainly can change as we grow. I think that the same event that was traumatic at age 20 can become motivational at age 40 Or 30 or 50 or 80. Your past is constantly being rewritten by your present maturity. And that's what I wanna talk about today, is just diving in and thinking about that very statement for just a moment. The facts of our stories, they don't change. They never change. They're, they're locked down stuck. It is what it is, right? What happened, happened. The betrayal, it happened. The loss, it happened. The divorce happened. The diagnosis happened. The rejection happened. The disappointment happened. Those events are fixed in history. But y'all, the meaning that we assign to those moments, I truly do believe that that can change. And often, in my own personal experience, I've learned so sweetly that that is where healing begins. When we're in the middle, however, though, of a painful experience, I do know that we tend to interpret it through a limited understanding. We only see what is immediately in front of us, and we might not have the perspective of time. We don't have the wisdom that comes through growth, and we don't have the spiritual maturity that develops through walking with God season after season. Maybe you'll agree on that. I don't know, maybe you won't, but that's just some wisdom that I have learned. I know also as humans, maybe y'all don't do this, but I know I definitely have done things like this before to where I will make conclusions such as, "This ruined my life," or, "I'll never recover," or, "God abandoned me," or, "I failed." Mm. And even really tough, I think we've all probably been here at time or another and said, "I wasn't enough." Or maybe even made the statement of, "They were right about me." Y'all, we create narratives around painful experiences, and over time, those narratives unfortunately can become beliefs, or as I like to say, stinking thinking. The problem is that some of those beliefs were formed by a younger version of us that, in my opinion, didn't yet know what God would eventually reveal, and how good God is, and how faithful he is. I wanted to share this morning, in thinking through as I'm recording this episode in the morning, maybe you're listening to it in the afternoon or at night, but regardless, the story stays the same. I think about Joseph from the Bible, from the Book of Genesis, and if you know his story, then you know that it was filled with hardship. His brothers betrayed him. They sold him into slavery. He was then falsely accused. He was imprisoned. He was forgotten. He was abandoned, and he was misunderstood. Now, I wanna tell you, in the story of Joseph, when I stop and I think about if we were to roll on into that pit that he had gotten thrown into, and we are going to be a reporter, and we're gonna interview Joseph at the age of 17 as he's thrown into that pit by his brothers, I mean, what can you imagine his interpretation may have been? Probably some things that I can imagine he would've yelled back up from the bottom of that pit is, "This is terrible. My life is over. My family has rejected me. This isn't fair." And honestly, he wouldn't have been wrong, would he? I would totally agree with him had that happened to me as well. I think that those feelings would have been real. But you know what, friends? If you go and you read his story, we get to know that- Those feelings were eventually fleeting because they weren't the full story. Years later, we find out that Joseph stood before the brothers who had betrayed him and said powerful words that go something like this, that, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." Notice what changed. The event didn't change. It still happened, didn't it? The betrayal was still betrayal. The pit was still a pit. The prison was still a prison. But Joseph's understanding of those experiences, they changed. His maturity changed. His perspective changed. His relationship with God changed. And because he changed, the meaning of his past changed. As a change-chaser, that makes me wanna give a little fist pump in the air like I'm in a sporting event, friends. Like, woo-hoo, let's go. It gives me hope that knowing that Joseph's story changed because of God. With all of those but God moments in our lives, I know that God is faithful, and I know that He's with us. I will say, though, that I don't know your story, obviously. You're listening. Some of us have never met. But I think about how it is possible that many of us might still be viewing our lives through the lens of an old version of ourselves. Maybe you're still carrying an interpretation, I'll just say, maybe that no longer fits who you've become. Maybe you've been telling yourself the same story for years, saying such things as, "I was abandoned. I was overlooked. I wasn't chosen. I wasn't loved. I failed." But y'all, what if God wants to help you revisit those painful chapters with new eyes? To not necessarily deny the pain, it happened, it still exists, right? And not to pretend that it didn't hurt, not to minimize what happened. But hear me when I say this, friends, I'm so encouraged to tell you today that I'm so hopeful that you'll embrace the thought that the idea of just choosing to see what God was doing, even when you couldn't see it at the time, 'cause you were living in such a difficult, unfair circumstance. But that I think that one of the greatest gifts that Father God gives us is perspective. Perspective doesn't erase pain, but you know what it does? It redeems it. There's a difference. Redemption doesn't say the wound wasn't real. Redemption says the wound wasn't wasted. Did you hear that, sweet friends? The wound wasn't wasted. I believe that's an important distinction. Many people spend years trying to erase painful parts of their story, but God doesn't erase stories. You know what he does? And I walk in this in victory every single day. He redeems stories. He takes ashes and creates beauty. He takes brokenness and creates strength. He takes wounds and creates wisdom. He takes messes and he creates ministries. Y'all, I've seen this in my own life, and I raise a praise of gratitude every single day because there are seasons that I would never, ever choose to live out again. There were moments that brought tears. There were moments that brought confusion. Honestly, there were moments when I questioned God's plan. There were moments when I wondered if anything good could possibly come from the pain But now I share with you that years later, I can see things that I couldn't see then. I can now see how God was developing endurance. I can see how he was teaching dependence. I can see how he was building compassion for me, but also within me for other people, to understand people better, to choose to try to see people for where and what they're coming from, right? Because so much of our life's experiences and the way we respond and we react is based off what we've experienced in our own lives. I can see how he was preparing me for assignments that I hadn't yet received. I like to call those divine assignments I will say that no event has ever changed in my life. However, the meaning has. Sweet friends, maybe that's true for you, too. Perhaps what felt like rejection was actually redirection. Perhaps what felt like delay was preparation, and perhaps what felt like a closed door was protection. I truly believe that. Those aren't just little one-liners that are trying to be little zingers. For real, for real. Like, perhaps what felt like losing was actually pruning. Perhaps what felt like the end was the beginning of something that God was building behind the scenes. You couldn't know that then, of course, but maybe you can begin choosing to see it that way now. One of the most beautiful parts of spiritual growth is that God continually invites us into deeper understanding. We don't just mature physically, we mature emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And every new level of growth gives us a new vantage point from which we get to view our lives. It's almost like climbing a mountain. When you're standing at the bottom, your perspective is kinda limited, right? You're just looking up, and you see the big, huge mountain. You may see obstacles. You will see steep terrain. You may see it as a huge challenge. But as you climb higher, your perspective expands. The landscape hasn't changed, but your position has. And because your position changed, your understanding changes, too. I believe that's what maturity does. Maturity helps us see what we couldn't see before. It helps us connect dots that once seemed random, and it helps us recognize God's fingerprints in places that we once thought that He was absent. I'm guilty of that, friends. If I'm just being totally transparent with you, maybe you're relating with me, too, that you felt like some of the really hard, terrible stuff you went through, that God was absent. But y'all, if we choose to say, "You know what? That moment doesn't define us," it has just helped to develop us into the mighty woman or mighty man of God that God has called and created us to be. I think, y'all, that whenever we truly do recognize God's fingerprints in places where we once thought He was absent, that it can help us to discover purpose in seasons that may have once felt pointless. So today, friends, I do wanna challenge you with a simple question: What story are you still telling yourself about your past? I'm pausing on purpose for a moment for you to stop and think. What story are you still telling yourself about your past? And is it possible That God wants to rewrite the meaning of that story? Again, not so much the facts. The facts are the facts. It is what it is, right? But the interpretation, the lesson, the purpose, the takeaway, the self-growth, those can evolve. Those can deepen, and I truly do wanna say that I know from living it out that those can transform. Maybe the hardest chapter of your life isn't evidence that God left you. Maybe it's evidence that He was forming you. Maybe the greatest disappointment of your life wasn't proof of failure. Maybe it was preparation for a calling that you couldn't yet understand. Maybe the thing that you've been trying to forget is actually the very thing that God wants to use, not because the pain was good, but because God is good, and God specializes in bringing purpose out of pain. Friends, before we close today, I wanna leave you with a practical exercise, or as we like to call on this podcast, the Change Chaser Challenge for this episode, is that I wanna encourage you, challenge you to take a few minutes this week and think about one painful experience from your past. I know that's not fun, but I do believe that sometimes we gotta do hard things. Hard things is how we can also chase change and grow. So thinking through that, choose one painful experience from your past. Write down the meaning of that painful experience that you've attached to it. Not just the experience, but what is the meaning of it? The emotions that are connected to that. What, what have you believed from that experience? Maybe even a lie that you've believed because of what's happened to you. You're not good enough or whatever you assign to that, the meaning that you wanna attach to it. And then I wanna challenge you to just stop and sit in that. Figure out, like, what is it that you have believed about yourself because of that experience? What conclusion did you make? And then I want you to ask yourself, would a wiser, more mature version of me be wanting to walk in this and say, "Woo-hoo, let's let this be what's controlling our life" Just something to stop and think about. What are you giving your power to? What conclusion are you making when you, you lean in and you see how that experience, whatever's happened to you, are you still allowing it to define who you are today? Maybe even the secret internal you that nobody else knows, but the stinking thinking and the negative self-belief that you've assigned to yourself because you have allowed this experience to be something in your mind that you're carrying with you forever. I don't believe, y'all, that we're supposed to allow our past to dictate our present. We get to choose no more. Tell the enemy to go back to hell where he belongs because you are God's girl or God's son, and that we do not have to sit or stand or walk or talk or lay and sleep in turmoil because Father God is good and he loves us. I want you to ask yourself in thinking about being a more wiser, more mature version, in thinking through yourself with that today, asking, "Where might God have been working in this story even when I couldn't see him?" You might be surprised by what surfaces. You might discover that Father God has been rewriting the meaning of that chapter just for you all along. Sweet friends, I wanna sweetly remind you that your story isn't over. Now, granted, your past may be fixed, but your understanding of it is still growing. Did you hear me on that? Your past may be fixed, but your understanding of it is still growing. And as you grow, God often reveals purpose where you once saw pain. He reveals strength where you once saw weakness. He reveals redemption where you once saw regret. The chapter may stay the same, but from personal experience, I will tell you right now that the lens can change. When our perspective shifts, y'all, it can change everything from the inside out. And I will say that sometimes changing the lens truly does change everything. As we wrap up, I wanna say thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the Change Chasers Podcast. Friends, if this episode encouraged you, I hope that you'll share it with a friend who may need a fresh perspective to, dare I say, an old story. Maybe something that they've been giving a lot of their power or their thoughts to, or even assigning some negative self-belief because of something that has happened to them. We are not defined by our past. Y'all, we get to choose to draw a line in the sand, step over it and say, "No more. I am going to walk in the victory because I am a daughter of the king. I'm a son of the king." And as you embrace the idea of stepping in and walking in that, I do hope, sweet friends, that you will remember, as I close out this episode, that you may not be able to change what happened, but through God's grace, you can discover a new understanding of why it mattered. Why it mattered, y'all. Isn't that a heck of a perspective? Because I think so often we get caught up in feeling sorry for ourselves or whatever, but no, you know what? Why did it matter and what can you learn from it? How can you be stronger and not stay stuck in the muck in the middle of your mess, that you can say, "You know what? I'm going to level up, and I'm going to let growth change my story." I encourage you, friends, will you embrace that with me? I wanna also tell you that I would love it if you'll go ahead and make plans to tune in next week, as we will be talking about inner applause Until then, sweet friends, I leave you with our closing sentiment of let's keep chasing change and let's keep living with purpose. Goodbye, sweet friends