Dealing With My Cr@p

Let me show you something disgusting. Are you ready? No, don’t go away, it’s not that bad. It’s the cup holder in my car.

 

You’re probably wondering what that nastiness is. It’s yogurt. You’re probably wondering why it’s worthy of a blog post. Keep reading. Last summer, actually last July, a child was riding in my car, and I put his drinkable yogurt container in the cup holder as we were heading somewhere.
 It spilled.

I thought, and probably said out loud, “Let’s not worry about it right now, I’ll clean it up later.”

The fact is that almost a year later I still haven’t cleaned it up. Instead I’ve managed to just live with that nasty mess – after all, it’s my mess, and I know what it is, so I don’t need to be bothered by it, right?

I’ll get around to it… when I feel like it. My friends and family will still love me despite my mess, won’t they?

When someone else rides in our car I just close the top of the cup holder to hide the yuckiness. Sometimes I cover the dried-up crud with a napkin, then my coffee cup can just sit there without getting any funkiness on it.

Yes, I have a yucky secret – this cup holder that I just don’t want to deal with.

My friend Bethany wrote a blog post and when she shared it on social media she mentioned that it was one of the hardest posts she had ever shared publicly. Why? Because she was exposing something yucky in her heart. She wrote about a personal mess that had been cleaned up yet was still uncomfortable to share with others. I read the post and thought, “It’s not that bad.” I also thought, “I’ve known Bethany for 15 years – I KNOW her, and the areas in which she struggles don’t surprise me.”

A few years ago Mike and I spent a week at a ministry called Restoring the Foundations (see link at bottom of the post) – it was an intense week of dealing with messes before God. We spent a week with counselors/intercessors who helped us deal with the stuff in our lives that was holding us back from God, keeping us from relating well to each other, and overall hindering us from the abundant life Jesus came to bring.

One morning as I met with the two counselors (a husband and wife team), they began by saying, “Okay, we want you to tell us everything bad that has ever happened in your life. It’s evident that God has done many good things, however right now we want to hear everything bad.”
This was one of THE MOST FREEING experiences in my life – to share every hurt, offense, and yucky mess in my soul that came to mind that day. These people weren’t shocked, offended, or upset by anything I said. They listened then led me in prayer through many things. I walked away from that experience so much more free and healthy.

It’s scary to confess things. However the fact is that we all have yucky things. Cup holders in our cars covered in disgusting dried yogurt. Secret sins. Bitterness. Anger. Offense. Wounds from the past.

Too often we either choose to ignore our messes, hoping they will go away (the yogurt mess has not cleaned itself), or we choose to cover it up (just lift up the napkin and you’ll see that my yogurt mess is there).

If we deal with our messes, instead of hiding or ignoring the rotten stuff inside of our hearts and souls, we will be healthier people who are not bogged down by our junk.

More of my getting-free-from-my-junk experience is shared here.

Resources I recommend for
dealing with your spiritual,
emotional, or generational junk include:
Restoring the Foundations
Cleansing Stream
Beth Moore’s Breaking Free or Get Out Of That Pit
Bethel Church's Sozo (Saved, Healed, Delivered)

 

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Hi, I'm Betsy, and I live in the Washington, D.C. area with my husband, Mike. We have been married since 2008. We enjoy exploring new cities together on foot, eating at our favorite Italian restaurants, and doing life as a team. I published my first book Embracing Hope During Infertility in January 2015. You can learn more about me here. I invite you to connect with me by following my Hope During Infertility Facebook page or my Betsy Herman, Writer Facebook page. Thanks so much for reading my posts!