1 I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. Psalm 30:1-2

When I asked a woman about the tattoo on her arm, she explained, "My former boyfriend did it-he was an abusive alcoholic." She was now happily married to another man, but every day she was reminded of the pain in her past. She would have preferred to remove that tattoo, but it was burned into her skin.

We've all met people whose past is tattooed onto their souls. They've experienced abuse, lived in immorality, or acquired addictions. Some are women who live with the memory of an abortion, others are men who have fathered children out of wedlock or ruined their families. I heard a news report of a young woman who turned her own father over to the authorities because she had seen him commit a murder when she was a child. Think of the memories tattooed on her soul.

How different our past would be if we could relive it knowing what we know now.

True, we cannot begin again in time; hours become days; days become months, and months become years that can never be relived. No one can go back to the starting line in the race of life. Tacking an outdated calendar on the wall will not bring back the years, nor allow us to erase imprints left by mistakes of bygone days. We cannot go to God, as one teenage did, with "Lord, I pray this accident might not have happened!"

Like holes left in the wall after nails have been removed, the gaping wounds of sin often leave ugly sores. God wants to bandage our open wounds so that they might be healed. When those wounds have become battle scars, we will know that healing has taken place. Guilt, regret, and bitter heartache can be put behind us-there is a land of beginning again. Out past need not control our present nor our future. It is never too late to do what is right, never too late to live our remaining days for God.

prayer: FATHER, AS MUCH AS I WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK AND ERASE SOME PAINFUL EVENTS IN MY LIFE, I KNOW THAT I AM MUCH BETTER FOR HAVING WITNESSED YOUR HEALING FOR THESE TIMES. GIVE ME COMPLETE HEALING FOR ANY HURT OR GUILT OR BITTERNESS THAT STILL REMAINS. AND HELP ME TO REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE THE GOD OF LOVE AND HEALING WHEN I FACE MY NEXT PAINFUL EXPERIENCE. AMEN.

• What are some "tattoos" I have on my soul? Have I sought God's healing for those? Do I need to call out to Him now?

Thanks brother,I love this write up very much!Many of us have many bad past memories tattooed unto our souls.
Let's continue to pray for each other,that God will remove all these past memories which have been tattooed unto our souls and that he will bring earnestly to seal us all in spirit with his words and his great Love for our full salvation.
God bless you!