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The apostle Paul was not a good person before his conversion to Christianity. In fact, he made persecuting Christians his life's mission. Acts 8:3 states, "But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison."

Saul had a radical conversion to Christianity that came with a new name and a new mission. Paul was a wrecking ball for Jesus, free from the sins that set him on a collision course with God. (Acts 9) This man is a perfect example of what freedom is. God did not look down, see the trail of destruction left in Paul's wake and limit what God could do in his future. 

Paul's past could have easily tormented him. The cries of the families he tore apart could have haunted his dreams. One of Satan's best tactics with humanity - constantly reminded us of our shortcomings and failures. Paul's success was made possible by a powerful scripture in Philippians 3:13, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead." Paul wrote that the one spiritual concept that he fully understood was leaving his past behind him and pressing on to the future that God set before him. 

Satan employs the very same tactics on each of us today. Our failures as a spouse, the shortcomings of our parenting abilities, the flaws in our character.... Satan loves to remind us of all the ways that we are imperfect and how those imperfections have impacted the ones we love. The beauty of Jesus' sacrifice is that we can truly be free from the destruction that defined our past. We are no longer slaves to the sin that held us it choking grip.

You may be a spouse that betrayed your marriage. You possibly have fallen addicted to pornography. Maybe you neglected your spouse, neglecting to give your relationship the attention it deserved. Or, you never had parents that modeled a loving and Godly marriage, so you find yourself stumbling along the way as you figure things out.

This same freedom through Christ is readily available to anyone who seeks it. It was paid for by Jesus' ultimate act of love, His sacrifice on the cross. More important, it is defined by the power of God that refused to leave Jesus dead in the tomb. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is stronger than my mistakes and failures. 

God's ability to restore our broken marriages or heal the deep wounds of betrayal is not based on what we can do. Instead, God's power is so much stronger than our humanity. There is not past that He cannot redeem. No wound he cannot heal. No brokenness that he can put back together.