Here is an interesting quote from My Utmost for His Highest.

Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.

Sometimes the hurt from our past is something that we try to stifle and push down so its harm can no longer, “have its way with us.” What vivid imagery to describe the effects that our shame and hurt possesses sometimes. Chambers says this is a minister of God. Its difficult to think sometimes that any minister of God would want to surface some repressed hurt from our past. But, at times, this is necessary. When God brings back your past, let your memory have its way with you. How is God trying to minister to you through the pain, the hurt, and the shame which you have tried to suppress?

~JK