Picture me, 13 years ago. A young, 16-year old girl. Long, light brown hair. Tall, slim. Straight-faced, nervous. It’s my first day behind a till, in a popular, high-street fashion store.

“Next, please…” I offered.

A fashionable woman appeared in front of my till, with a plastic bag in hand.

“I’d like to exchange this faulty item…” declared the woman, whilst emptying the contents of the bag all over my neat desk.

 “And I’d like to take this item, instead of the faulty one, please,” confirmed the woman, as she sprawled a brand new garment, across the old, faulty one.

Old for new. That’s why on-trend woman came my till. She had a purpose. One, final exchange. No going back.   

During my six years of working at that store, I went on to process many exchanges. But here is the thing: once people had exchanged faulty for new, they never looked back on that decision.

Not one customer came to my till asking for their faulty item back!

Usually, people would come into store, hand over their faulty item and leave happy with a brand new product in their possession. As a cashier, I would then mark the faulty item with a big label and hand-write details of the fault, before sending the garment back to its maker!

This week I felt God clearly say to me: “Once it’s exchanged then so be it. Just leave it at the cross. Leaving it means leaving it.”

Here’s the thing: this past year, God has highlighted a few negative mind-sets, which I had been holding onto. Mind-sets relating to comparison, self-criticism and striving.

These mind-sets weren’t helping me. They didn’t fit the woman of integrity that God created me to be. They were faulty, broken and ill-fitting.

I re-learnt the gospel… Because Jesus took all of the punishment for my sin, because He took all of my shame when He died on a cross, I do not have to mentally punish myself anymore. I do not get to beat myself up with poor-thinking, or worry.

So I began to swap my negativity for God’s thoughts. I let the Holy Spirit show me what lies I had been believing. I began to study God’s word and replace those lies with truths.

And then this week happened…

• One day this week, I woke up thinking negatively.
• Another moment this week, I started fretting about what people were thinking of me.
• And, yep, there were another few occasions during the week, in which I found myself dwelling on past mistakes.

That is when I felt God tell me to: “move forward.”

In other words: There’s a fresh chance for you and I to begin again, to believe again and to start afresh, right now.

You don’t have to grapple with your past or past issues over and over. You can move forward today.

Tomorrow has gone.

Once it’s dealt with, it’s dealt with.

The book of Isaiah contains a prophecy about Jesus. It says:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed and commissioned me
To bring good news to the humble and afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up [the wounds of] the broken-hearted,
To proclaim release [from confinement and condemnation] to the [physical and spiritual] captives
And freedom to prisoners,
To proclaim the favourable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance and retribution of our God,
To comfort all who mourn,
To grant to those who mourn in Zion the following:
To give them a turban instead of dust [on their heads, a sign of mourning],
The oil of joy instead of mourning,
The garment [expressive] of praise instead of a disheartened spirit.
So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God],

Isaiah 61: 1-3, AMP.

Jesus came to bring good news to us when we were humble, afflicted, and broken-hearted. He came to set us completely free from addiction, sin and shame. He came to comfort us and bless us with life, instead of darkness and death. He came so that we could experience joy, rather than strive and pain.

In the NIV version, verse 3 reads:

[Jesus came to] provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendour.

Isaiah 61: 3, NIV, my brackets.

I love the image this verse gives of a crown of beauty, in exchange for ashes. Jesus came to give us a crown of beauty, wrapped around our minds.

Here’s the thing: when Isaiah was written, those grieving would put ash on their fore heads. They would be subject to wear a physical mark of despair against their minds.

When I was reading this verse, I felt like Jesus said to me: “A beautiful mind is one that is set on me, instead of a mind set on despair. It’s another way a way I could have only given.”

The bible tells us that, when Jesus was nailed to a cross, He wore a “crown of thorns.” (Matt 27: 29, ESV.)

This crown represents a crown spiked with negative mind-sets – hatred, loss, self-criticism, doubt and despair. He wore that crown for us, so that we no longer have to. We can take it off, now. We can instead take a step towards our new life wearing a crown of beauty.

You and I have an opportunity today to set our minds on Jesus. To let go of past despair and accept with gratitude a new, beautiful way of thinking, one that Jesus has given to each of us, personally.

• We can accept that and simply say “thank you.”
• We don’t have to pick up comparison or shame anymore.
• We don’t have to strive with stress and worry.

Today, we can wear proudly a mind of peace, a mind of forgiveness and a mind set on love. We don’t have to go back to wear we have been, but we can take a step forward, wearing our crown.

I get it, some of you don’t want to move forward until you get answers… Answers about why you were hurt, why God didn’t do anything to deliver you from that trauma.

If you don’t want to move forward because you think you still have unanswered questions or unhealed pain I just feel like God is telling you to “trust Him” and “move on anyway.”

I have unanswered questions but I felt I heard God say that He will tell me when I am ready. I don’t have to wrestle with that today because that’s not what he’s putting his finger on now he will tell me when I can handle it, when he knows I am ready. I feel that may be true for many of you reading this. Remember, God is your loving Father, He knows everything and He knows when you need and when you need it.

For others, you want to move forward… You just don’t know what your next steps are. Are you just supposed to study God’s word, all day long?

In answer to that, I’m reminded of a dream God gave me the moment I became a Christian. A dream to write books, blogs and magazine articles.

As soon as I became a Christian, I recognised that God had placed this writing dream deep in me. So I took my first step – I wrote a daily journal. God led me to my second step – digital marketing. I loved playing with words that would engage and connect with people.

Here I am at my third step – blogging. And it’s not as pretty as I’d like it to be. I quite often think: my posts are too long, I don’t edit or structure my work, as I know how and I don’t market as I’d like.

But I am writing every Saturday. And that’s the small, third step God asked of me.

I realise that I could write an entire post about how to find your next, small step. But this post isn’t that – this post is about you recognising that there is one and that you can take it. You don’t have to go back to that old thing you don’t want any more.

That anxiety, that bad mind-set or that addiction. You can exchange it, for good. You can move forward now, not looking back.

So, take a 10-minute pause. Here, now.

Let the Holy Spirit show you what lies you’ve been holding onto. Write them down, throw them away!

Then, yes, study God’s word, but also pray for God to clearly show you your next step.

Pray whilst believing that there is a next step for you. Because I believe that God has a beautiful crown He wants to adorn you with, now. I believe that there’s a new season ahead, and it looks good on you. I believe it, even if you don’t believe it yet!

You can move forward. Leaving it means leaving it behind, for good!