Stuffing our problems away

I wrote this back In October of 2022 and came across it today. It’s relevant in my life right now and I thought that it might be helpful to share. I hope that it helps you in some way and in some area as well.

Are we STUFFING AWAY our problems, and not wanting to deal with them until a rainy or better opportune day?

My grandma always said DON’T put off till tomorrow what you can do today. I agree that some things are better dealt with at their proper time, but we must choose to prioritize. But, problems don’t just go away.

They will haunt us, eventually catch up to us and then they’ll be worst than when they began. What we sweep under the rug will eventually begin to come out. We can only hide the pain and the problems for so long. They will only expand and grow. They will turn into mountains and begin to spill over into other healthy areas of our life - like a cancer that’s not cut out. It can be slow growing or progressive, but either way, we don’t want it there. We have to attack the issue at its root and core. We can’t just ignore it and expect it to go away, as bad as we may want it to.

Too often we bleed onto people that did not cut us. We can’t just deal with the growth and not the root, or it’ll keep coming back. That’s counterproductive and doesn’t solve the problem, therefore it’s not the solution!

We must get to the root of where it began. It hurts to get down to the root and to go back to those dark deep wounds. But this is where healing can begin. It’s when we begin to get honest with ourselves and God, and dig deep. He already knows but when we allow light to be shed into the dark places, we no longer have to hide them in fear, shame or regret. Whether or not we caused them or not doesn’t matter. They are still there and what doesn’t get acknowledged can’t be dealt with. What’s not dealt with will become infected. What’s infected cannot only spread but can become contagious. If it’s destroying you from the inside out like a silent cancer, it’s worth dealing with.

Where we don’t deal, we don’t heal.

It’s time to go back to that closet where we began to slowly stuff away that pile of dirty laundry. We need to sort through it and decide what gets to stay and what needs to go. Some things that we had forgotten we loved, are worth keeping! That part of us has been locked away for far too long! It’s turned us inward and into something we were never meant to be. Wounds do that if not dealt with timely and property. Wounds hurt and that’s why we don’t want to deal with them. We think it’s easier to just hang onto, stuff or bury - but it’s not… as I’m learning myself.

Even if I didn’t cut me, I still have to doctor me and allow God to help heal me from the inside out. Even if I didn’t cause the pain, I do deserve to heal.

Why do you think we are to apologize for wrongs and forgive wrongs just as quickly as they came? And not let the sun go down on our wrath?? Because we carry it into the next day and the next which turns into years - unless we deal with them. Guess who it hurts? You and I! What we neglect and refuse to acknowledge, also tends to neglect and wounds others too. If we do not cooperate with our feelings and pain then we stuff them or let them control us. I’m not saying that we are to let our feelings control us, but they are indicators. If we do ignore them, then they eventually will control us. For instance, sadness not dealt with can turn to anger and anger will rule and begin to harden us.

Does anyone know what happens to a horse with an injury that didn’t have proper and timely wound dressing? Proud flesh! Look it up.

That’s what happens to our heart’s. It’s proud flesh. When we’ve hurt or been hurt, it’s hard to heal. It’s hard to deal. We often want to feel justified and the reality is, God sees and knows. He cares! But He cares too much to let it destroy you. He forgives and He also can make wrongs right. We must allow Him to strip all that proud flesh off and get to the tender flesh so that we can begin to heal right. Only He can take a heart of stone and turn it back into a heart of flesh.

It’s time to retrace. Not ignore. Not neglect.  It’s time to move on and forgive but if there’s a pile there, it won’t take care of itself. If you’ve said it’s made you stronger and you haven’t truly dealt, chances are it’s made you hardened. We aren’t flexible and sensitive to God’s voice or others needs when we are hardened. It’s not being said without sympathy or regard for the situation. It’s not saying without compassion to “get over it” when we don’t know what someone has been through. No!

Things take time! Hurt doesn’t heal immediately and it’s a process that we must begin. Jesus didn’t ask the man who had been laying down for 38 years “if he wanted to get well” out of meanness. He had compassion on this man but if He was to pity him, he would have never risen. He wanted him to rise up out of the wrong mindset before he died that way! Had he never risen in his mind, he would have never risen outwardly or thought that he was worthy. We must heal from the inside. This is where the healing begins. ❤️ and 🧠.

Jesus loved this man too much not to pass by and to challenge him. Where we aren’t challenged, we have no reason to change. It may seem as if we are being picked on or that God doesn’t love us, but just the opposite is true! He loves us so much. Too much to leave us that way. That’s why Jesus passed by. God doesn’t so all the work, He wants us to participate and cooperate. Some people say “get over it.” That’s not what God is indicating in the manner that they would say it in, with no feelings or regard to the person or situation. No! He literally wants us to get over our unbelief and to move past the hurts that keep us down. He wants us to rise above them and go to new levels of freedom.

This hurt can destroy you, sometimes the people closest to you, and other relationships. It can surely also keep you from forming new ones that you could have! Don’t let another day go by without dealing with that pile. It takes a while to sort through so give yourself lots of patience, space, forgiveness and grace. It’s a process.

Last but not least, most of us have dealt with dirty laundry or dirty homes at some point. We don’t want anyone to see our mess. It’s nothing compared to the mess of what’s within. Years of hurt and shame can look nasty but we are worthy of healing!!! Don’t hide under the shame, hurt, sadness, anger and regrets. The real people in our lives who really love us and really matter, they love us unconditionally. They will understand and want to help you, just as you would them. Leave room to grow. Don’t close off in shame.

It’s time we stop hiding and start being honest with ourselves, first. When we hide everything in a closet or stuff it in a room, we live in fear that someone might find out. We don’t want to open that door because it’s just too big and too much to deal with. It don’t go away or get smaller, so do not delay, begin today. As I’m reminded, the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. One day at a time. Grace for today and Grace will be there for tomorrow too.

If we aren’t at home with ourselves how can we be with anyone else? Only light can expose dark and it’s time to get honest and let the light in. We must stop refusing. Open the door and let God do the work that only He can do. Let Him shine light on what’s dark and fill what’s empty. He can take away the pain. We have a part to play and a part to partake in. He wants to help you. He died for you!

He will expose things that you possibly never knew. If you work with Him, He will work with you. He knows all and nothing is hidden. It’s not too late… as some would think. You’re still breathing and alive, therefore He still has purpose for you. Take all of your hurt, anger, shame and regret to Him. Lay it at the foot of the cross where He came to heal every hurt, break every chain and erase all shame - so that you can live whole and healthy again. He will encourage you, strengthen and help you.

He won’t leave you so don’t push Him out.

I can’t end without saying this, as God has been dealing with me. Forgiveness truly is key 🔑. It’s why Jesus came and why Jesus died. He rose so that we could walk in love and in freedom, and forgiveness is key to that. Love is forgiveness. It’s easy to love those who love us back. We want forgiveness but we aren’t always to apt to want to forgive so easily. Another tool of the enemy.

God showed me or reminded me a few weeks back that forgiveness is 2, or double sided, if you will. If we want it, we have to not only receive it but have to extend it. What if that person is me? What if I am the one that’s not only unforgiving but that I haven’t forgiven myself? I’m not unforgivable or unlovable. Neither are you. He died for ME. For YOU! We imprison ourselves too often. We are holding our own selves back through not releasing what we should. We hold the key. We can walk out at any given moment. What if I truly forgave myself where I felt like I didn’t deserve it? Wouldn’t I make better decisions? See how it’s key 🔑 ! The person I’m holding back is me… and so it begins with me. With you.

It doesn’t mean that you have to reconcile or that the other party even has to know. Maybe it does. Only you and God know. But we must be reconciled back to Him because unforgiveness separates us from Him and destroys us from the inside out. If we allow it to fester and grow, it’ll eventually hardens us too. It’s true that we must forgive if we want to be forgiven, even if it’s hard and hard to accept. I can’t change the word of God and sometimes I wrestle with it. I must allow it to change me.

Disclaimer: As long as we are alive, we will have something to deal with. It’s easy to look at someone else’s life from the outside of their exterior or appearance, and think they have no problems and they have it all together! It looks like they are a perfect little package. Wrong ❌!!! As long as we are breathing and alive, we will all face trials and no one is perfect. We are all a work in progress if we want and choose to be, and as long as we cooperate with God. He will work with you and me. No one of is exempt from pain but no one is exempt from healing unless they want to be.

So open up your homes and your hearts door TODAY and LET HIM help you. He can begin to do a work inside of you. It may not be pretty at first but it’ll be beautiful in the end.

This is where He desires to live! ❤️

• Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

He’s not looking for the perfect person but the willing heart.