Healing From Your Past And Moving Forward with Hope and Joy – Healing 2025

Summary

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Our past can still feel very present in our daily lives; feelings of regret can prevent you from turning toward God and truly accepting His Mercy. In this talk, you will figure out what is holding you back and how to move forward with God.

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus.

Pope St. John Paul II
 

1. What areas of your life are in need of healing? What do you look back on with regret?

2. How do we respond when we are reminded of the past? What are some of the “backwards” behaviors you default to that hinders your healing?

3. What part of Rhyan’s poem stood out to you the most? What do you think God wants you to take away from that?

4. Are you willing to be loved and to be whole again? What is one step you can take today to begin to move forward with hope and joy, allowing yourself to “Forgive, forget forever”?

Text: Healing From Your Past And Moving Forward with Hope and Joy

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Hello, welcome back to the Online Pray More Healing Retreat. My name is Ryan Ramirez, also known as Bro Rhy and I am thankful. I’m feeling thankful to be able to be with you again, again, just to share my heart with all of you as we are all on this journey to becoming whole, not just with ourselves but whole with God, our Father and whole, with any other areas in our life that, uh, might need a little bit of healing.

Opening Prayer

So let’s go ahead and start with the prayer. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lord, we, come to you again asking for your guidance, asking for your strength. We know, Lord, that we can try to do life on our own and maybe we can reach certain accomplishments and milestones, Lord, but we know ultimately without you. Without you, it’s for nothing. I pray that all of our participants are taking in all the things that they need so they can continue to grow closer to you, so they can come become whole again, so they can heal from the things, Lord, that maybe have been holding them back from having a true, authentic relationship with you.

I pray that our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds are open for all the sessions. That whatever it is, Lord, that you put on their hearts, they can apply little by little, knowing that this is truly a journey, that this is a marathon and not a sprint. I ask that they see the worthiness in them, which is truly the way you created us, and that we can truly become one with you and one with the body of Christ in the most healthy way possible. And this we pray, amen. In name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On Moving Forward

All right, before we start, let’s just go ahead and just take a deep breath in. Exhale out feeling any tightness or yeah, anything just tight. Just, you know, just relax. Just breathe in through our nose, exhale out through our mouth. Just relaxing and just getting ourself grounded. And we’ll take one more breath in and exhale out. Love it.

All right, so last session we talked about. You know this analogy of us being this beautiful mosaic, which is a blend of all these broken pieces that are in different shapes, different sizes and different colors, representing all the different hardships and challenges of our lives. And if we give it to God and we trust in God that he can put it all together, he’ll create the masterpiece. That he created from the very beginning.

And so today our talk is called, you know, healing from our past, moving forward with Joy and Hope, healing from our past, moving forward with joy and hope. So one word I want to just take a moment to, for us to really think about is the word forward, forward. And I think part of the challenge with our healing process and being on this healing journey is that we have the tendencies to continue to look, yeah. To continue to look back.

And if we’re not looking back, or maybe we’re dwelling on the things in the past, there’s a reason that the things are called the past. There are meant for the past. They’re not meant for the present. But I know that the past. Can seem present. Hmm, let’s take that in for a minute. The past can seem present or sometimes the past is always present, which it might be for some of us, but the question is how do we respond to what’s coming up for us now? I know that was a lot to take in for the beginning part of our session today, but really, let’s think about the areas that need healing in our life.

The areas of regret. If you are thinking about things that either you’ve done or that has happened to you from, you know, weeks, months, even years ago, guess what? It’s still present. Why is it present? Because we’re bringing it present. We’re making it present. We’re thinking about it in the here and now, and that’s okay.

However, how do we respond when we hear, think, or are reminded? Of the past, and I think that’s where the challenge is. So if we respond the same way we responded back then, or if we’re in the same mindset, heart space, spiritually, if we’re in the same, you know, spiritual space that we were in the past, and guess what, it’s going to be really challenging for us to move forward. For us to move forward.

We Are Yoked With Jesus

Now I want you to take this visualization. Imagine two ox. Okay, two ox. And the thing that holds them together is called a yolk. That wooden piece that holds ’em together is called a yolk. Now, if both in order to move forward and in order to make progress, both yolk, I mean both yolk, both ox need to move Yes.

At the same time. And they need to be going in the same, yes, you got it the same direction. But what if one of the oxen decide, you know, I’m just tired today. I don’t feel like moving. Will they get anywhere? No. Or what if one of the oxen says, no, I’m going to go this way. And the other oxen says, no, I’m going to go that way.

Are they going to make any progress? No. So when we think about this analogy, the reason I’m sharing this analogy specifically is because when we think about our journey, our healing journey, especially, we’re not doing it alone. We are already yoked. As believers in Jesus Christ, and who are we yoked with? You got it.

We’re yoked with Jesus, but his yolk is in the form of a cross. So imagine that cross. You’re on one side and Jesus is on the other, and he’s yoked with you. Are we still looking back at the past? Dwelling on everything that happened back then, which is taking us away from moving forward, which is a key, which is taking our focus away from moving forward.

Forgive, Forget Forever

And so when I think about this idea of moving forward, the first question I always ask myself, ” what are some of the backwards thinking or what are some of the backwards behavior that maybe I default to? That’s actually going to hinder my healing. That’s actually going to make it difficult for me to heal?”

So it reminds me of this, , homily when my, my pastor at a last parish, father Leon, you know, he was talking about forgiveness and he said these three words, forgive, forget forever. Yes, forgive, forget forever. And so I’m sitting there thinking, wait a minute. I’ve heard, forgive and forget, but the ways that I’ve heard in the past was forgive, or I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget.

Right. I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget. And of course that kind of made sense to me at the time. But when Father Leon continued, he said, here’s why it’s important to forget forever. He said, because the devil wants you to remember your sins. The devil does not want you to forget, which means if we continue to think about all of our past and our sinful ways, then guess what?

We’re keeping the door open. You see the devil? He knows your name, but he calls you by your sin, but God knows your sin, but he calls you by your name. I’m going to say that one more time. The devil knows. Your name, but he calls you by your sin. And God knows your sin, but he calls you by your name.

What’s Preventing You From Moving Forward?

So number one, are we in that backwards thinking mindset? Are we always dwelling on the past? And if we are, and that’s where you are right now, I get it. But that’s why you’re here. To start thinking, how do I move forward with Jesus if I’m truly yoked to our God? If I’m truly yoked to Jesus Christ by way of the cross and he wants to move forward with me, what’s preventing me from taking those steps to move forward with him?

What’s preventing me? From having the hope and the joy in knowing that I am not my past, but I am God’s future. Yes, realize with your, real eyes that you are not your past, but you are God’s future. And when we can start, number one, realizing that the past is the past. That’s why it’s there, and the present is truly a gift.

And let’s remember who we’re yoked with, then we can truly start to move forward. Now, when I think about this idea of healing becoming whole, I’m so thankful we have the sacraments because we know that we are not perfect people. So it’s important that we get to the sacrament of reconciliation, to reconcile is to be made whole.

And who are we being made whole with? Yes, you got it. We’re being made whole with God our Father. Through this beautiful sacrament, we get that outward sign to give us an inward grace, an outward sign, giving us this inward grace to become whole again. And I’m always a believer of saying, you know, how can we help others? If we don’t help ourselves, how can we help others heal? If we’re not healed ourselves, how can we help others become whole if we’re not whole ourselves?

Which is part of why we’re having this retreat. So we can start focusing on becoming whole again as our, as ourselves, but becoming whole with God. And when we come become whole with God and we’re yoked with Jesus, and we accept that Jesus can take us through all of our hardships, through all of our struggles, and we’ll accept the grace that God gives us. Then that’s how we continue to move forward little by little.

40, 40 days in the desert or for even 40 years, you know , wandering small steps lead to great distances. So know that your healing journey is going to be at your own pace. Know that, you know, everyone’s going to have a different timeframe.

However, as long as we know. That we’re yoked with Christ, and as long as we’re moving forward, taking little steps day by day to become whole again, then I know it’s definitely possible. So forgive, forget forever because the devil wants you to remember. He wants you to think back about all those times when he had you. When he knew he had a little edge on you over what God had on you, and now we’re going to move forward because we are not our past, but we are God’s future.

He is Just Waiting For You

So let’s start with that. What does that look like now? Accepting God’s mercy, right? Thinking about God and his unconditional love, especially in moments where we feel like we’re not worthy. Again, another reminder, God loves you so much. And he already knows the struggles and the challenge that you’ve been through, and he’s just waiting for you. He’s just waiting for you to come to him. Just like in the prodigal son, the father who waited the prodigal son was out squandering his inheritance, living a life that.

You know, made him and his father so far, not just distance wise, but even at the heart. But as soon as he came home, what happened? If you remember in the scriptures, the father saw his son from a distance, and he ran to him. He ran to him. Now, in those days, contextually fathers running to their sons, wasn’t really a thing.

But he ran to him and he covered him. He clothed him. He put on his robe. He said, let’s get him his sandals, put his ring on all of the things. Now, one of the things that I love about that story, that parable that was shared, the reason why he runs to his son, he runs to his son outside of the community.

And then he clothed him, he puts all of the best things. And of course, he’s, you know, summoning to have this party, the fatten calf, the whole nine. And why, why outside? Let’s, let’s take a moment and think about this. Why outside the community? And it’s because he wanted his son to come back in the community the same way he left.

He wanted his son to come back into the community the same way he left. And if you read that scriptures, he doesn’t look at the son and say, I told you so. He doesn’t even look at the son and say anything hurtful or harmful, but he holds him. He hugs him, he embraces him. And he clothes them so that he comes back in the same way he came out.

And I believe that God wants the same for all of us when we go to the sacramental confession again, just, you know, thinking about. How it works out. We think about the confessional. Typically, they’re like on the outsides of the church or the on the sides of the pews, or even some outside before you even come into the narthex, depending on your parish.

God is Rich in Mercy

So think about that. You’re becoming whole with God again before coming into the community. And this is a sacrament that we are all deserving of, all worthy of. Now, I made this, song and I usually perform it in different ways, sometimes through a form of rap music for the youth, or a spoken word or a poem.

And I’m going to just share some of the lines with you. And I made this during the Jubilee year of Mercy. Okay, the jubilee year of mercy. And so I’m going to start with the phrase or the opening verse goes,

“God is rich in mercy. No matter what we’ve done, we gotta do the same. Just like his only son, Jesus Christ paid the price to free us For our sin, mercy means forgiveness. And compassion. Love is alive. God is not dead despite what people do, how they feel, or what they said. We all go through things that often blur our vision, taking us off our path for getting our mission. Then we fall into sin and it feels okay, but our spirit is dying. Day by day. Little do we know that God is sad, but because of his mercy, he’s never mad. We gotta turn it around 180 degrees, put our hands together to ring it on our knees. Being forgiven means forgiving yourself when your heart’s not heavy. That’s the true wealth.”

Now let’s just break that down. Okay. God is rich in mercy no matter what we’ve done. So we gotta do the same, just like his only son. So think about this, from when God is rich in mercy, God is rich in mercy no matter what we’ve done. Which means that he has an abundance. He has so much mercy to give, but yet we feel we’re not worthy of it. And so when I think that of how rich in mercy he is, that means he has so much for all of us ’cause he knows we’re not perfect ’cause he knows we’re going to make mistakes and he has an. Abundance of mercy for each and every one of us.

So if you are thinking, I don’t want to come to God, and you know, because maybe he doesn’t have that much mercy, or, you know, I don’t want him to waste whatever mercy he has on me. No, no, no, no. Just know God is rich in mercy no matter what we’ve done. All right. There’s plenty to go around.

Mercy Means Forgiveness and Compassion

We have to do the same. Just like his only son, Jesus Christ paid the price to free us from our sins. Mercy means forgiveness and compassion. So Jesus Christ already paid the price for every single sin that was done prior and post.

Yes. Okay. Up until today, he gave his life for us. So we have to do the same. We have to live with compassion. We have to be able to forgive not just our others, but especially forgive ourselves, right? So let’s go on to the next verse. Mercy means forgiveness and compassion. Love is alive. God is not dead.

God is Alive

Love is alive. God is not dead. Despite what people do, what they think, or what they said, come on. We live in a world right now where there are going to be so many people challenging. The world is going to challenge our beliefs, challenge the existence of our God, and I’m here to remind you that God is alive. God is not dead despite what people do, how they feel, or what they said.

See, there’s this joy that I have because I know as a sinner of myself, I know as someone who falls short, that God is so rich in mercy, and he is alive. He’s alive in the sacraments. He’s alive in the scriptures. He ist alive. He’s alive in our prayers.

He’s alive right now in this moment with you and I, and it’s just a reminder. And no matter how unworthy we feel, and no matter what we’ve done, or maybe something that we’re still caught up on, something that we’re still, that still has us, you know, held down like a vice grip. So maybe some of our vices that we’re still in right now, that we have a God who is not just waiting for us, but who is rich in mercy.

The Serpent Was Subtle

So let’s go on. Mercy means forgiveness and compassion. Love is alive. God is not dead despite what people do, how they feel, or what they said. We all go through things that often blur our vision, taking us off our path for getting our mission. Then we fall into sin, and it feels though, okay, but our spirit is dying day by day.

Now this is a reminder of, remember the scriptures, the serpent was subtle. Mm, come on, catch that the serpent was subtle. So we just have to be mindful that yes, we, you know, might be living in a way that keeps us away from God. Little by little, maybe we start to rationalize that. Well, if we want to move forward, if we want to start healing, we have to start remembering that the serpent was subtle.

And that things that we start to say or do that take us off our path, help make us forget our mission, blur in our vision. You know what those things are. So recognizing those things is going to be part of this healing process is going to be part of what we want to bring to God in our prayers, what we want to bring to God in the sacrament of confession, what we want to bring to our Lord, and cry out and say, here’s what my struggles are.

See, I think part of the reasons we have a hard time healing is because we forget that God already knows what’s happening with us. He’s just waiting for us to cry out. He’s just waiting for us to be open and honest with him. You know, whether you’re, you’re mad, you’re frustrated, you’re sad with whatever’s going on in your life.

God doesn’t care what your voice sounds like. He just wants to hear it, and when you can cry out to him. Now there’s something for him to work with in the sense of, because you’re owning it, you’re being accountable to it. And now he’s saying, all right, my son, all right, my daughter, I got you just like the prodigal son.

That’s the True Wealth

I’m not only going to bring you back into the community, back into this faith family, back into this holy family, this body of Christ, but you’re going to come in better than ever. Just like you never left. And that’s what God wants for each and every one of us. And then the, and the, you know, I love one the lines in there, forgiving yourselves, right, is the true beauty, right? Forgiving yourselves when your heart’s not heavy. That’s the true wealth.

So let’s think about that for a moment, right? When we forgive ourselves, that’s the true beauty. And when our heart’s not heavy, that’s the true wealth. So whatever’s making your heart heavy right now or whatever has been making your heart heavy for a while because of maybe the things that you’ve been telling yourself or the unworthiness you’ve been feeling.

I’m here today just to remind you that no, no, no, you are very worthy. I’m here to remind you that God is rich in mercy and he’s just waiting for us to cry out. He wants to be yoked with us, right? And we think about in the scriptures and Matthew, he says, you know, come to me, all of you who are burdened, right?

“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” What does this mean? This means that Jesus has a custom yolk for us. Jesus has a custom yoke for you. He doesn’t say, come to me. Right? He says, my yoke is easy and my burden is life. He doesn’t say, come to me. I’m going to give you a yoke, and you’ll never have any burden to anymore in life.

No, no, no. But he’s saying, I know you’re going to go through some struggles. I know you’re going to go through some hardships, and healing is going to be one of those struggles. Healing is one, is going to be one of those hardships. But what he’s saying is, For my yolk is easy and my burden is light, which means the burdens you have will be a little lighter.

Not going to say, you know, a lot easier, but what are the options? Would you rather be yoked with Jesus and your hardships and your struggles or not? So when we think about, you know, our, our regrets and you know, that we have, you know, in our daily lives, Jesus wants us to know like the past is the past. Leave it there.

A Fresh Start That You Deserve

Jesus wants us to focus forward, right? Isaiah 43:19. I am doing something new. I am doing something new. Jesus says, you know, I make all things new and he wants to make you new. He wants to give you the fresh start that you deserve. And like I say, I choose Christ Daily and I choose to be renewed daily. And so when we think about how Jesus looks at us and how he wants to continue to stay yoked with us, he’s there and he’s just waiting for us to walk with him.

He’s waiting for us to realize with our real eyes that yes. We do have a God that is bigger than any of our challenges at any of our struggles, that we do have ways to become whole again. And so when I, you know, am moving forward and thinking about, okay, well. Yes, I’ve been through a lot. Yes, I’ve done a lot myself.

How do I continue to live with hope? How do I continue to find joy? Even though there are moments where, you know, again, I’m feeling terrible again, forgive, forget forever. Move forward. Move forward. Jesus doesn’t want you to just stay where you are, right? The two oxen, he doesn’t, you know, both needs to move together.

And Jesus saying, if you trust. All right. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. So in your daily routine, in your daily practices, back to kind of what we said in the last session, what are your affirmations that God is affirming in you? What are the things that you know how God sees you and when you, when you, when those regrets come up, what are ways? What are things that you can do so that we don’t get stuck in the past and then we move forward?

God Disrupts to Develop

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, when it comes to healing from our past and our regrets, just know that there isn’t anything, number one, right, that God hasn’t seen. And number two, just know those are the things that are going to be holding you back. Those are going to be the distractions that are going to, hold you back from moving forward. Another one of the sayings that I tell myself often is, the devil disrupts to distract, but God disrupts to develop. Yes, the devil disrupts to distract and God disrupts to develop.

So anytime there’s distractions or disruptions in my life, instead of being distracted and taking me away from the mission and, and maybe making me go backwards, instead of all that happening, I say, okay, God, what are you trying to develop out me now, anytime there’s any disruptions in my life, meaning things that don’t go my way or as planned as the way I planned it.

I automatically default to saying, okay, God, what are we developing now? Or what are we continuing to develop? So I say in your daily practices, when those moments of unworthiness come, when things are activated in you that bring up the past or bring up the regrets and it’s a disruption in your day, pause for a moment.

And just ask God, okay, God, what are you helping me develop today? What are you developing? What are you developing in me in this moment? And if we can continue to have that forward mindset, if we can continue to forgive, forget forever. And remember, just like the prodigal son that we have a father who wants us to come home if we’re willing to come home, and if we’re willing to be open, if we’re willing to be loved, because we are the beloved dear to his heart.

But it all starts with taking those small steps, with crying out with everything that’s been heavy on our heart and realizing that God is rich. In mercy and he’s waiting for you.

Take Some Time With the Lord

So I encourage you, whatever best way, whatever best practice or way for you to, you know, reflect whether that’s in silence. Maybe you’d like to journal, maybe you’d like to draw, uh, maybe you’d like to do audio recordings or even video recordings. Take some time to really think about, okay, Lord, what are the things that. Are really hindering me and holding me back from moving forward. What are some of the past regrets that I have that for some reason I just keep staying there and it’s hard for me to, you know, come around and move forward with you.

I write those things down, reflect on them, pray on them, and just know that, you know, thinking of the prodigal son as again, part of the foundation of are you willing to own up to it and come home. And more importantly, you’re willing to be loved and be whole again with God, our Father.

And of course, in our prayers, praying for all the intercessions from all the angels and saints so that we can continue to pray in community with each other. I love this, you know, concept, the Pray More Healing retreat. Because there’s so much power in our prayers, and I believe that when we have a healthy combination of prayer, of community being, you know, living a sacramental life and moving forward and having a forward thinking mindset, staying yoked to Jesus and walking with him in his direction, in his way with our hands and feet.

Yes, I do know that. His yoke is easy and his burden is like so brothers and sisters in Christ. Whatever it is that’s on your heart, my prayer for you, my prayer for you is that you bring it to our father through the sacraments in your prayers that you continue to move forward.

Closing Prayer

Let us pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Heavenly Father, we, come to you again with our brokenness. We come to you with a tender heart. We come to you with this feeling of unworthiness. And Lord, we ask that whatever feelings we have, whatever doubts. We may be harboring whatever challenges and you know, barriers that are in the way. Lord, we ask that you remove ’em, so that we can come to you wholeheartedly.

We can come to you with everything that holds us down, everything that doubts us, that doubts you, everything that we have, Lord, that keeps us away from you. We know that you want so much more for us, more than we can ever imagine. And sometimes we just get stuck. We just get stuck in this backwards thinking or in our backwards ways, and we ask, Lord, that we know as you make things new, make us new in mind, body and spirit.

Let us continue to rely on you daily. Let us continue to walk with you daily. Let us pray with you daily. Let us continue to get more intimate with you in the scriptures, letting it be part. Of our routine. I pray we develop healthy habits, healthy routines, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, Lord, so that all that we do are the results of all that we do.

Allow us to truly have joy and hope regardless of what we’ve done, and let us be reminded that we are not our past, but we are your future. If we just say yes, if we bring ourselves to you. And this we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alright, have a great, rest of your day and please remember to take the time that you need, pray on whatever’s on your heart. Open up the Scriptures journal, and just, remember that God is with you always. And like I say, as always, pray for me. ’cause I’ll always be praying for you.

About Rhyan Ramirez