The road to healing and health can sometimes take us down unexpected paths. I tend to equate dealing with the dark, gross stuff in our lives as cleaning behind the fridge. We don’t go there very often. It is a lot of work to pull the fridge out and usually it is full of dust, grease and maybe some hairy spiders. It is not light cleaning when we pull out the fridge. It is hard work. So hard, that I tend to put it off for another day. Doing the work of inner cleaning behind the fridge is scary. We try to avoid it. It’s hard to imagine that we will feel better once it’s clean.
It was supposed to be a typical week. There was nothing special on the agenda. I started having trouble breathing. My asthma has always been predictable until now. By day three of struggling and inhaler being relatively ineffective, it hit me that this was about something new lurking behind the fridge that needs to be dealt with.
Our bodies are great indicators of emotional wellbeing. Unresolved emotions such as anger, or traumatic experiences are held in the body. It was time to look at when the asthma started and evaluate if it was more than a simple allergic reaction. Trusting this scripture, I pulled the fridge away from the wall.
27The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.28-29 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire! (Hebrews 12:27-29 MSG).
Facing another perpetrator from my youth has brought waves of emotions. Emotions I wasn’t expecting to have to face again. Fear tried to take over. Clinging to what I knew in the core o my being, I pulled out the fridge.
Trusting God, believing the promise of scripture, and knowing there is healing once the cleaning is complete allows me to put fear aside and start scrubbing. It’s not easy nor fun. It is hope that propels me forward. God gives me the courage to face what needs to be faced. God holds my hand and reminds me that He is not indifferent to my experiences, my pain, my sorrow. He reminds me that I will get a thorough housecleaning. He reminds me that cleaning behind the fridge brings wholeness. It’s risky to trust the One who created us and face the darkness, but I’ve never regretted it.
Have you experienced cleaning behind the fridge? Is God showing you some darkness you need to face? Share your experience here and breathe life and bring hope to others.