One of the worst things we can do is drag parts of our piled-up past into our present and future. Seasons end … God uses seasons. But if we don’t do the hard work of getting real closure on a season, we probably won’t experience the new beginnings God has for us. Feel held back or stuck? Many do. This hope-filled conversation with Mike Ashcraft can help you experience grace and break free.
[Scroll down for links, resources, and scripture on this topic.]
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Mike Ashcraft
Mike Ashcraft serves as the Senior Pastor at Port City Community Church which he helped start in 1999. He married Julie, his high school sweetheart, in 1992. They grew up in Atlanta and relocated near the beach in southeastern North Carolina. He enjoys family time with his two daughters and one son-in-law. The beach is his happy place and surfing is the only hobby he needs. To Be Concluded: How to Prevent Your Past from Piling Up and Find Hope for Your Future (B&H Books, March 15, 2022) is his first book.
Senior Pastor — Port City Community Church
To Be Concluded: How to Prevent Your Past from Piling Up and Find Hope for Your Future (Available March 15, 2022)
This book is for the too-busy, driven person who’s moving on to the next win, without ever processing how one season of life affects the next. It’s for the person stuck and held back because she’s never done the hard work of getting real closure on a season.
When we fail to finish well, we live with a pile of unfinished beginnings. But finished things become usable things because they are a part of the story of God’s grace and faithfulness.
>> Download your FREE Personal Retreat resource mentioned in this episode
Go Deeper — To Be Concluded: Find Hope for Your Future
To Be Concluded — Scripture for Meditation, Prayer, and Proclamation
For we are His workmanship (Gk, a design produced by an artisan), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them . (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NLT)
Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:26-28 NASB)
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time (redeeming the time), because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV)