Recently, a lot of confessions took place in my life, and that is also  reflected in my poems. To be honest, it takes me a lot of time to make a confession of any kind, but every time I do it, I feel so much better - the guilt, pain, shame, they all just fly away.
There´s a specific passage in 1 John dealing with confessions and the fruit of them.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9)

Isn´t that amazing? If we confess, God will surely forgive us. Furthermore, he will cleanse us from all wickedness. I mean, this is sooo so amazing. God not only forgives our sins, he will clean all the shame, take away all the pain, we will be clean and worthy again. He gives us a fresh new start! Every time a sincere heart turns to God, tells Him what he´d done (or thought or said) and seeks His forgiveness, He proves His justice by... forgiving.
That does not imply no more painful flashbacks will appear. I get flashbacks very often. But with confidence I trust in God´s word and His promises. I simply believe He already forgave me. It´s not Him, who reminds me of my past. And my past is definitely not what defines me.
It is Jesus and His sacrifice.