Uncovering the mess!

Uncovering the mess! What do I mean by this? I'm not talking about the mess in our house, the mess at our work desk or maybe the mess in our car. I'm referring to the "emotional mess" in our lives. We have all "made" a mess of our life in some way or another. The important thing to remember is that it can always be cleaned up. But how? How do we get past our past? How do move forward in a healthier direction? The key to moving forward and cleaning up our mess is by digging deep to the root of the issue and relying on God for His help. Many people have a misconception of WHO GOD IS. God is not a God of rejection. We can go to Him at anytime in the midst of our mess and He will accept us. We do not have to be "clean" to go to God but instead we go to God to "get cleaned." He is the one who we can "come clean with" in our shortcomings and He cleans us up and heals us when we rely on Him too. This is why God is God. He loves us unconditionally no matter how messed up we are. We are made clean and renewed through Him. I have made many mistakes in my lifetime and I still will throughout my life. Sometimes we create our own mess by our choices and other times somebody else's choices may have made a mess in our lives but you do have a choice on how you want to respond to circumstances that happen to you. I believe its not what happens to you in life but how YOU choose to respond to it. You can respond with a negative attitude and self pity which will keep you emotionally stuck or you can respond with a positive attitude full of faith. I can promise you that there is not one person out there who has responded positive every single time. Each of us has at some point in our life reacted in an unhealthy way to a circumstance because we are imperfect and we are all still learning and growing. But the more you react negatively the longer you will remain emotionally stuck in your growth in that particular area. Years will go by and the emotional mess just keeps getting bigger. You may know someone who struggles with addiction, resentment or anger, mistrust, lying etc. All these things are "symptoms" to a deeper rooted issue. That issue usually has taken root long ago and has now become a mess for them which then turns into a way of life for them. In order to uncover their mess they must acknowledge where it took root. Usually the person will be emotionally stuck in that area of their life because they have not gotten to the root of the issue. Once they can get to the root of it they can pull from the root up. This is where God begins to heal. God can renew and restore your life in a whole new way. Some of us have big messes and some of us have small messes. Let me clarify that a mess and a struggle are different things. A mess is something that has taken root and continues and has an affect on your life in one or more ways. A struggle is something that is on the surface that you currently are facing and has not made its way deeply rooted. But if you do not face the struggle and work through it then it CAN take root and turn into a mess later on. I've uncovered many messes in my life by first being honest with myself. Then going to God about it and asking for direction, sometimes receiving conviction and seeking His healing for me. Let me share a current struggle that I have been facing for some time now. If I decided not to approach God about this struggle and ignore it i can guess that it would have gotten to be a deep rooted issue by now but because I recognized my struggle and immediately went to God about it, I've been in the process of working through it with God by my side. As a mother of four I'm sure many of you can relate to the stresses and frustrations you may have with one or all of your children at some point in your journey. I have struggled with maintaining a deep connection with two of my boys. It started with my oldest about seven years ago when He was around the age of six. I had no self control when he would get into trouble. I would yell, scream and spank out of anger. I began having a lot of guilt as a mother and started to disconnect with my son. Every time I reacted this way I would go in my room and cry. I would be so mad at myself but I kept on disconnecting myself from my son. My youngest sister came to visit me and I will never forget this moment. She spoke the truth but with love to me about my struggle. I didn't even have to tell her what my struggle was. She recognized it right away and she asked me to hug my son. Now for most mothers that is such an easy thing to do. It's so natural to show affection to your children. I can honestly admit that it was the hardest thing for me to do. I felt such guilt and shame for the mother that i was becoming. I didn't realize right away why I was reacting this way towards my son but I discovered later on that the many stresses in my marriage at the time was why I was "on edge" about everything to the point where I was taking my stress out on my son. That day that my sister took the time out to talk with me openly and honestly about my disconnection with my son and my struggle to even show him affection was the turning point for me. When I realized that my sister recognized it right away I knew this was more serious than I thought. I sat there and cried as I held my son in my arms. My sister encouraging me to comfort him like a mother should and telling me to repeat " I love you buddy" over and over. Her bravery to speak the truth to me was exactly what I needed. I began praying over and over daily to God for His help and guidance. You see, if I didn't approach my struggle head on and allowed it to go undiscovered or hidden and tucked away I can guarantee you it would have just continued to grow in a negative way. Can you imagine seven years later, now today how that struggle would have taken root and grew? Can you imagine the relationship I would have today with my oldest son? Instead my son and I have a healthy relationship and open communication. He is such a servant at heart. My ability as  his mother is always needing improvement but with God all things are possible. I am so thankful to have such honest, caring, loving people in my life who can take the time to be honest with me about one of the hardest struggles in my life. I could have gotten offended and defended myself with many reasons about my struggle. But being honest with yourself is where it begins. My sister had the courage to speak up with me about this and I could have easily shut her out. It's what easiest, right? Maybe it seems easy at the time to shut them out and not face your struggle but later on down the road it will only get harder because that struggle will begin to take root and that root creates a mess. We all have struggles. We all have had messes or you may have a mess right now. Be honest with yourself. Ask God for His guidance and don't allow the enemy to give you condemnation. Instead allow God to give you conviction if that's what it is. Remember you don't have to "get cleaned" first to go to God. You have to go to God first to "get cleaned".

James 4:8  Come close to God, and He will come close to you.Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.