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July 24, 2025 19 mins

In this episode, we dive into the transformative power of embracing change and the courage it takes to leave the past behind. Join us as we explore personal stories and expert insights that reveal how letting go of old habits and mindsets can lead to growth and new opportunities. Whether you're facing a career shift, a personal transformation, or simply seeking inspiration, this episode offers valuable perspectives to help you navigate the journey of change with confidence.

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Episode Transcript

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Introduction (00:03):
Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine
encouragement. This is Joy inEvery Step with your host,
beloved preacher, retiredteacher, and faithful walking

(00:31):
through the valleys or dancingon the mountaintops, Sarita's
voice will guide you back to hispromises step by step. So open
your heart, settle your spirit,and take the next step in faith
with joy in every step.

Sarita Bernadette (00:55):
Hi, I'm Sarita Bernadette. Welcome back
to Joy in Every Step. Many of usfind ourselves at a crossroads
of some sort right now. Rightabout now we are thinking about
starting something new or wealready have started something

(01:16):
new perhaps. In the first coupleof episodes, I shared some words
of support and encouragement forthose of us who are moving
towards something new.
And if we're being honest,making moves towards something
new is both exciting andterrifying, right? At the same

(01:39):
time, I want to spend a fewminutes talking about one of the
things that gives us pause whenwe find ourselves faced with
doing something new. One of thethings that holds us back is
leaving the past behind. Sothat's what I want to talk about

(02:00):
today, leaving the past behind.And what I mean here just to be
clear is simply this, letting goof past experiences and moving
forward.
Letting go of past experiences,the bad and the good, and

(02:21):
focusing on what's ahead.Letting go of what we've become
comfortable with is hard, reallyhard. Change is hard. When
you've been in a place for along time, it can be extremely
difficult to leave there. Gowith me for a moment.

(02:44):
The mere thought of making amove and leaving the place you
know and sometimes love cancause one to become anxious and
even fearful. Letting go of whathas worked for us, what has
brought us comfort and stabilitycan be unsettling.

(03:07):
Interestingly, it can be hard tomove out of a comfortable place
and it can be equally difficultto move from an uncomfortable
place. Yes, you heard thatright. I found that even where
you are is no longer working,it's still hard to imagine not

(03:30):
being there.
In any event, change is hard.American psychologist Abraham
Maslow once said, In any givenmoment, we have two options: to
step forward into growth or stepback into safety. I'm going to

(03:51):
make a radical statement righthere: safety can be deceptive
and dangerous. Remaining in aplace that has become
predictable and easy to navigatecan and will stunt your growth.
I will go so far as to say, bynot moving, you risk missing

(04:15):
what has been planned for you.
If you ignore the call, or forsome of us, the calls, plural
you may just miss moment. We donot want that. When God calls us
to move, we have to leave thepast in the past and be on our

(04:38):
way. There's a fine examplerecorded in the Word of God that
we can glean from. In theeleventh chapter of Genesis,
we're introduced to Abram, hisfather and his brother and his
wife as well.
We also read that his wife Saraiwas childless because she was

(05:00):
not able to conceive. This storyhas sounded familiar to somebody
out there. We see Abram's fathergather the family up, and they
leave Er where they were living,and they set out for Canaan. But
we're told, when they came toHaran, they settled there. While

(05:24):
we don't know Abram's exact agewhen he arrived in Haran, the
Bible tells us that Abram wasthere until he was 75 years old.
75. I would say that's enoughtime to become very familiar
with the environment, wouldn'tyou? He would have known the

(05:46):
city pretty well, probablybecame familiar with his
neighbors and their families,might've known where to go for
all the supplies needed forsurvival at that time. You know,
where to draw the best water,how to get his livestock what
they needed, where to go for thebarley and the wheat so it could

(06:10):
be ground into flour for bread,where all the best grapes and
pomegranates and olives anddates were. You get the picture.
He knew life in that region. I'mnot saying it was easy, but
since he was familiar with thearea, it must have been fairly
predictable. Listen, even whenproblems arose, he knew how to

(06:36):
handle them in that place. Lifewasn't easy, but it was
manageable because he knew wherehe was. Familiarity is
comforting.
Comfort zones allow us to movewith a sense of confidence and
pride like, Yeah, I know thisplace and I can handle and

(07:00):
control things here. Soundfamiliar? Keep listening. In
Genesis chapter 12, Abram has anencounter with God. It says, The
Lord had said to Abram, 'Leaveyour native country, your
relatives and your father'sfamily, and go to the land that

(07:21):
I will show you.
I will make you into a greatnation. I will bless you and
make you famous, and you will bea blessing to others. I will
bless those who bless you andcurse those who treat you with
contempt. All the families onearth will be blessed through
you.' So Abram departed as theLord had instructed, and Lot

(07:46):
went with him. Abram was 75 whenhe left Haran.
Abram takes his family and allhis stuff and he heads for
Canaan. Now you'll remember thatwhen his father was alive, they
had headed there, but theysomehow got sidetracked and they
wound up in Haran for asignificant amount of time. So

(08:10):
then the Lord speaks and hepushes him toward his destiny.
Think about that part the nexttime you get sidetracked. So I
ask this question here.
Has the Lord spoken to you andtold you to get going? Has he
told you to get up and move?Abram had no idea where he was

(08:34):
headed when God spoke to him,but he knew enough to drum up
some courage and go. God said,Go, and he went. He had to leave
his past behind.
The place he knew, the place hewas familiar with, the people he
knew, and those he had come torely on and support for

(08:59):
companionship. For support andcompanionship. And from what he
read, Abram wasn't just leavingbehind a few belongings. He had
a significant amount of wealthin family yes, family is wealth

(09:20):
wealth in possessions and wealthin livestock. So he may have
been inclined to respond with, Ihave what I need here, God.
I'm comfortable in this place.I'm good. But Abram again
drummed up some courage andstarted making moves. He left

(09:40):
his past behindthe bad and thegood. We must be willing to put
the negative and the positivebehind us and move forward into
the future.
As you read on in chapter 12 ofGenesis, you see that Abraham
moved on into Canaan, andwherever he stopped, he set

(10:03):
up an
altar. In other words, he pausedand he took time to thank God
for his journey and hispromises. Was his journey
perfect? No. But it was blessed.
It was blessed. God continued toenrich Abraham's life, and

(10:24):
eventually He changed his nameto Abraham. The Bible records in
Genesis 17, When Abram was 99years old, the Lord appeared to
him and said, 'I am the AlmightyGod. Walk and live habitually

(10:46):
before Me and be perfect that isblameless, wholehearted,
complete. And I will make Mycovenant, solemn pledge, between
me and you and will multiply youexceedingly.
Hear me with your spirit,believers. Then Abram fell on
his face, and God said to him,As for me, behold, my covenant

(11:14):
solemn pledge is with you, andyou shall be the father of many
nations. Nor shall your name anylonger be Abram, high exalted
father, but your name shall beAbraham, father of a multitude,
for I have made you the fatherof many nations, and I will make

(11:40):
you exceedingly fruitful, and Iwill make nations of you, and
kings will come from you. That'sGenesis seventeen:one-six. Abram
already had a good name.
I'm going to say that again.Abram already had been given a

(12:01):
good name. Are you listening? Itwas high, exalted father. That's
good, right?
But God added to Abram when hechanged his name to Abraham,
father of a multitude or fatherof many nations. I believe that

(12:21):
that is indicative of how ourGod wants to add to the lives of
his children. Yep, change ishard, but God works it out for
our good. His math is alwaysgood. Listen, Abram believed in
God's promises.

(12:42):
God promised to make him a greatnation and that through his seed
all the families of the earthwould be blessed. Though he was
childless, God promised himdescendants, and he believed.
Wow. Because of his belief,Abraham became the father of the

(13:05):
faithful. He was willing toleave his past behind and step
into his destiny.
His life became a testimony forall of us, a testimony about a
God who keeps his promises, aGod who always has our best
interests at heart. So in thosemoments of doubt, when you know

(13:30):
you have to make that move, doit with confidence, trusting
that the Father has already goneahead and made the way for you.
Know that whatever you areleaving behind doesn't compare
to what God has stored up foryou. Trust God in the process

(13:50):
even when you don't know whatthe outcome is going to be. God
is always up to something.
Isaiah 43 verses eighteen andnineteen reads, Do not call to
mind the former things orconsider things of the past.

(14:12):
Behold, I am going to dosomething new. Now it will
spring up. Will you not be awareof it? I will even make a
roadway in the wilderness,rivers in the desert.
He's doing something new, myfriends. He's doing something
new that only God can do. Andthe only way you can get to it

(14:36):
is to get moving and keep movingas he gives the instructions.
Something deeply personal righthere. My college experience,
specifically my undergradexperience, epic.
It was a time when I waslearning and growing and

(14:59):
discovering so much about lifethat I really didn't want it to
end. And I will be transparentand I will admit that I wasn't
always doing what the Lord wouldapprove of. I'll just say I had
a wonderful time. When I say Ididn't want it to end, mean

(15:22):
that. I mean that.
I went so far as to apply forgraduate school there at that
same college and I wound upremaining there in my same room
serving as a resident assistantas a grad student for another
academic year. I just wasn'twilling to let it go. I wasn't

(15:44):
willing to leave it behind. Someyears later while serving as an
educator in an excellent schooldistrict with outstanding
colleagues and an exceptionalteammate and friend, I realized
God had already set everythingup long before I arrived. And

(16:07):
that part of my life was equallywonderful and fulfilling.
It was awesome. My willingnessto leave the past behind and
move into my future had provento be absolutely glorious. I
have so many fond memories ofthose years right after college.

(16:28):
It would take me all day toshare them with you. I found a
wonderful quote from Alan WilsonWatts.
It says, The only way to makesense out of change is to plunge
into it, move with it, and jointhe dance. Leave the past

(16:49):
behind, my friends. Plunge in,move, join the dance. Life makes
a whole lot of sense when youlook back on it. One final word
from the wisdom of Ecclesiastes.
This is chapter seven verse 10.Do not say, why were the old

(17:11):
days better than these? For itis not wise or because of wisdom
that you ask this. The messageversion is even more direct than
the amplified classic. It readslike this: Don't always be
asking where are these good olddays?

(17:31):
Wise folks don't ask questionslike that. That has blessed me
over the years. It also hitshard. It hits hard, especially
when you've had some good olddays. We can leave the past
behind.
Let's leave the past behind andmove forward with great

(17:53):
anticipation. Friends, we needto get going with excitement and
joy. Yes, joy. I've found thatI'm able to do so when my heart
is full of gratitude, when I'mthankful for the things God has
already done, When I'm thankfulfor the things He's done in my

(18:14):
life, I don't look back withlonging, but with a tremendous
amount of gratitude, and thenI'm excited about what's ahead.
Remember one Thessalonians fivesixteen-eighteen.
It reminds us to always bejoyful, never stop praying, and

(18:35):
be thankful in allcircumstances. It says, For this
is God's will for those of youwho belong to Christ Jesus.
Thank you for listening today.You've been listening to Joy in
Every Step. I'm SaritaBernadette, and I'm grateful you
chose to spend some time herewith me.

(18:55):
You can find Joy in Every Stepwherever you listen to your
podcasts and give us a followthere. Do check out the website
at joyineverystep.org.
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