You know what it’s like…the day you decide that you need to pull the refrigerator out and scrub behind it. It may have been three, six or even twelve months or longer since you did this back-breaking job and you are not looking forward to it.
You get someone to help you move the huge appliance or struggle for awhile by yourself, and then…there it is…that gunk you dread. How did it get there? Where did it come from? What is it?! Yuck!!
You collect cleaners, rubber gloves, and a knife or spatula to scrape the gunk up . You get on your knees and begin to remove the dirt. What a nasty job!! When you have successful scrubbed the last of the dirt up, you wipe it clean and then sit back to admire your work. Ahhhhh! Done for another year!
This is what is it like when we look at our lives and realize there is some “gunk” from our past that we need to clean up. It has been there accumulating around our heart and we need to do business with it, so we can move forward without it.
How do we start?
- The first step is to ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the dark corners of your life and reveal them to you.
- Take time to look at past situations in our life, and if they still anger or depress you, you need to get the “cleaning supplies out” and get busy.
- Look at your childhood, abuse, divorces, misunderstandings, embarrassments/humiliations, words of hurt, and failures. Evaluate the effects they have had on your decisions, relationships, self-worth, confidence, etc .
- Dig deep and realize the power those people or situations have had on you.
Write them down so you have to look at them outside of your memory. - Determine that you are not going to let those experiences hold your heart in its filth anymore. You are not going to dwell on them or discuss them or gossip about them again.
- Look at those people who have hurt you and forgive them once and for all. Set them free, but mostly, set YOURSELF free from them. It is over. This is YOUR life and YOU get to decide what has power over you.
- Spend some time in prayer asking God to clean your heart and your memory of the things the enemy has placed there. This step is like wiping the floor clean behind the refrigerator with a clean cloth. Now sit back and admire HIS work in your life!
“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me…Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.” Psalm 25
***Resources to help you do some “cleaning” in your life can be found at www.robynbministries.com
#divorce #chainednomore #hope #godslove