It’s often been said that we shouldn’t live in the past, but sometimes, inevitably, our past mistakes can haunt us. Regret over decisions made, things we’ve said and done that impacted others negatively, or opportunities missed. But God calls us to a different reality—one that is based on the present with Him and the promise for a future that He lovingly prescribes. Our guests this week have all had events in their past that haven’t been easy to overcome. But each of them took a step forward, a step toward God, and stepped away from having their past define them. We’re talking to author and speaker Christine Caine and the members of the popular worship band I Am They—Matt Hein, Justin Shinn, and Abbie Parker.

Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:

Jesus Calling Podcast

Jesus Listens

jesuscalling.com/jesuslistens

Jesus Calling

Past interview: Jamie Blane

Upcoming interview: Rosie Rivera

Christine Caine

Propel Women

Romans 8:38-39 NIV

1 John 1:5 NIV

Psalm 119 NIV

Revelation 21:5 NIV

Hebrews 12 NIV

A-21 Campaign

ChristineCaine.com

How Did I Get Here?

I Am They

Foursquare Church

Vicodin 

OxyContin

Heroin

Mennonite church

Romans 5:20-21 NIV

“Scars”

https://www.iamthey.com/

Faithful God

Interview Quotes:

“There are a lot of things in my life that, you know, it would seem naturally speaking, should have stopped me from fulfilling my purpose and destiny. But Jesus being the amazing God that He is, He not only saved me and healed me and restored me, but He used those broken fragments of my past to not only give me a future, but to help me give other people a future.” - Christine Caine

“You are never too far gone for God not to be able to bring you back.” - Christine Caine

“I have found in my life that prayer moves God, and when God is moved, God can move mountains.” - Christine Caine

“I think that if we could trust the character and the nature and the goodness of God, we will get to the other side and find that our God was in control the whole time. I love that about God.” - Christine Caine

“I went into an eighteen month drug court program, so I was doing outpatient rehab, I was doing counseling, all that stuff. But what really made the biggest difference in keeping me clean was getting back involved with my church.” - Justin Shinn

“When you disappoint yourself, it can be really hard to believe that anyone else would not be disappointed in you, so that was a lesson that took a long time to relearn.” - Abbie Parker

“We sort of flipped the narrative that shame would have cast in our lives and decided this is no longer going to be a shameful narrative. This is going to be a story of God's grace and forgiveness and goodness and redemption in our lives.” - Abbie Parker

“It was just something that became the hidden addiction. And I never drank and I never got into drugs and that kind of thing, but [pornography] was kind of the thing that I could hide that was slowly but surely, in the same ways, eating me up