Don’t Look Back: When Attachment to the Past Freezes Your Future
Lola stood in the doorway just before dawn, the skyline glowing behind her like a memory begging to be remembered.
She had packed light. Not because she owned little, but because God had made the instruction clear.
Leave now.
Do not delay.
Do not look back.
Marcus waited by the car, keys in hand, eyes forward. He had already grieved what they were leaving. He had already settled the decision in his spirit.
Lola had not.
The Call to Leave
The city had been good to her.
It gave her recognition.
A sense of belonging.
A version of herself that felt admired and known.
The dinners.
The rooftop conversations.
The comfort of familiarity.
But it was also collapsing from the inside out.
God had warned them. What once felt alive was rotting beneath the surface. Values were shifting. Lines were blurring. What was celebrated yesterday now demanded a cost she could no longer pay.
Obedience required separation.
So they left.
The Pull of What Was Familiar
As the miles passed, Lola felt the ache settle in her chest.
Not fear.
Not regret.
Longing.
She did not miss the danger. She missed the identity.
The woman she was there.
The ease of recognition.
The life that no longer asked her to explain her convictions.
Her phone vibrated.
A memory surfaced.
A photo from a season when everything looked perfect.
She stared too long.
Nostalgia softened the truth. It edited the pain out of the story.
“I just need a moment,” she said quietly. “Just to remember.”
Marcus did not argue. He had learned that some decisions are revealed, not debated.
The Look Back
She turned.
Not fully.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Enough to replay the life she left behind.
Enough to wonder if she had misheard God.
Enough to question whether obedience was worth the loss.
And in that moment, her feet stopped moving forward.
The past wrapped around her heart like salt in a wound.
She was no longer going back physically, but spiritually she had already returned.
Frozen Between Two Worlds
She stood still.
Not destroyed.
Not punished.
Just unable to move.
This is the danger of looking back. It does not always pull you backward. Sometimes it locks you in place.
Lot’s wife did not run back into the city.
She became stuck between what was ending and what was beginning.
Jesus later spoke only four words about her.
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Not as condemnation.
As instruction.
The Lesson
God did not call her out because He was cruel.
He called her out because what was behind her could not survive.
You cannot step fully into the future while emotionally preserving the past.
Some of us left the environment, but we still miss the validation.
We left the lifestyle, but we still crave the ease.
We left the season, but we still measure ourselves by who we used to be.
Looking back is not always about rebellion.
Sometimes it is grief unmanaged.
Identity unresolved.
Attachment unhealed.
But obedience requires trust, not nostalgia.
Scripture to Stand On
“Escape for your life. Do not look behind you.”
Genesis 19:17
“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:26
“Remember Lot’s wife.”
Luke 17:32
Reflection
What season are you still romanticizing?
What version of yourself do you secretly miss?
What comfort is God asking you to release so you can move forward?
God does not deliver us so we can keep longing for what He judged.
Closing Thought
Freedom requires more than leaving.
It requires letting go.
God is not threatened by your memories, but He cannot move you forward while you keep turning around.
Do not look back.
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Redeemed by Grace. Rooted in Faith. Living on Purpose.
Redeemed and Rooted
— S. A. Briddell
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