Do We Owe Anything To The Past ?

Do we owe the past anything?  As a believer I know scripture teaches that God forgives us of our sins and once that happens it is not Him who continues to bring those things up anymore.  I know also that there may still be suffering connecting with the consequences of past sins. There might be other things that may not have been sins but could have hurt others in our past.  I praise God for many people He has saved that have no dynamic testimony so to speak because He saved them from so many things......my children were fortunate to be in this category.  I was not. 

One of my spiritual gifts is prophecy.  It comes with an ability to quickly recognize, have a love for and desire to speak the truth.  The downside of this gift is that when I write, it sometimes may sound that I am holier than thou and have it all together.  This is not the way it is however.  I was saved when I was 21 years old and can still remember it clear as day, the place, how I felt and even the Preacher's name.  The church where my salvation experience occurred was heavily focused on Evangelism but not on Discipleship.  There were many struggles I was dealing with at the time and though my wants and desires had changed, there was little encouragement or support to help me in my new life.  After time I drifted away from church and never made it very far down the road of holiness at all.  About 16 years ago the Lord led me to join a small country church and I began to study scripture on my own and attend conferences and seminars and came in contact with some very Godly men who challenged me to grow in my faith.  It has been a long road, a slow road, a very difficult road even to get to where I am currently in my desire to be a disciple of Christ.  While I may not have much difficulty recognizing the truth, it is still very hard at times to make the changes necessary in my life required to line up with it.  Sometimes things in our past ignite our passion to help others, this has certainly been the case for me.  One of the big reasons our Ministry was created was that God gave me a desire to help others in becoming true disciples and not to have to struggle the way I did. 

So how much do we owe to our past?  Are there people from days gone by that may have been hurt by us, even unintentionally, that we need to go back to and ask for forgiveness?  I believe this is what scripture teaches.  If we think back there might be a few obvious folks that come to mind but what about others we don't even know about?   I have made attempts to meet with some folks from my past and extended invitations to others. Though this could be a painful process, it is the right thing to do and one I want to do.  There is no one I can think of I have ever hurt intentionally but there might be some who have been hurt unintentionally.  Sometimes the only way we can know, is if they let us know.