You’re Not A Child Anymore, You Can Walk Away

We have all been hit with memory-attaching-instances in life that wound, but they don’t have to stay with us forever, writes SEELE Head of Content Ally

“Whatever you experienced as a child will stay with you forever. But, you’re not 5 years old anymore, you’re not a teenager- you can walk away.”

A lot of our issues and problems, the things that weren’t rightly done to us but unfortunately happened anyways could be solved if we choose to walk away. What I mean is that when we have the courage to, as Jesus so bluntly put it in John 5:8 “pick up our mat and walk,” that thing that was done to us will no longer have power over us.

For those of us who understand the prophetic, when I say “inner healing,” you won’t be confused. In the Christian context, specifically in the charismatic movement, inner healing is a practice that seeks to restore broken places through reconciliation with God, others, and oneself. A few weeks ago, I was engaging in inner healing, and I shared with the facilitator that there was an area in my life where I had received freedom, but some years after receiving that freedom, someone who is supposed to be loving in my life attacked that area. I didn’t realize how that attack undid that area where I once had freedom in. Work had to be done to restore that freedom and once again bring in healing. I asked the facilitator, “what does one do, what do I do when freedom has come in an area, and it gets attacked again?” And the facilitator noted that though attacks may continue, we have to choose to throw them off, pray against them, and strengthen ourselves in Christ.

You see, this area of freedom has affected my life since I was a child and plagued me. It had stayed with me forever in a sense, but when I gained freedom that area no longer plagued me. I may have thought about it, but I was free from its burden. In the areas we receive freedom in, the devil will try and attack us through the words of others. And, there’s nothing I can do about the devil’s attacks when they come. But, I’m not a child anymore, I’m not a teenager anymore. I can walk away, even if I have to go into deep prayer to fight and keep my peace.

We have the power to walk away. And it’s really a choice. It’s not easy and sometimes it takes courage, but we can do it. Just like the man in John 5, who had been paralyzed for 38 years, who was expecting someone to pick him up and help him to the pool when the water stirred (verse 7). He could have found a solution to “walk away.” By verse 8 Jesus challenged the man and said: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”

Or, think about Dave Pelzer’s story. That as a boy his mother moved him from his bed to a cage in the garage. She made him eat his own fecal matter, she held his arm over the stove just to watch the skin burn. This is insanity and behavior like this causes deep psychological wounds, burdens, and can mentally imprison people. But Pelzer’s ministry is geared toward tough love, challenging people to pick up their mats and walk, and to WALK AWAY from life’s horrors.

As Christine Caine likes to say, “the ingredients for a miracle are always in our possession.” We have to decide first if we want a miracle. Just like with weight loss, the tenacity and commitment to pull it off first starts in the mind, not at the gym or in the kitchen. When we resolve with our minds that we want freedom and/or healing in a certain area of our lives, it starts with the mind because we realize we have the power to walk away and be different compared to where we were before.

I do realize that many people have been hit with the unimaginable and I am in no way devaluing your experiences, or telling you to get over it and walk away. To walk away requires deep inner healing, help in this area, and the work of Holy Spirit in a person’s life to set them free. There are experts in these areas who know far greater things than one article. All I know is that there is nothing the blood of Jesus cannot set free.

As we settle into 2025, let us resolve that what was done to us can greatly be minimized in a larger picture of freedom and healing, believing that our best days are yet to come when we partner with God to move forward and not look behind.