First off, let me say WOW! I was floored and humbled to see 67 views to my last post ... I pray daily that God will use my ramblings for others, so I pray that at least 1 of you were helped in some way by His Words through me!
Secondly, I apologize for being MIA so much. As some of you know, I have some super duper fun health issues going on. Last Thursday I got to receive a double carpal tunnel release surgery, so my hands have been bound and gagged and kinda hurting. Today is the first day I've driven since surgery, and it was only 2 blocks lol. At some point I get to drive the 13 1/2 miles to my Dr's office in Chartucky for my allergy shots. Let me tell you, if I can get there alive, you better believe I will be going to reward myself with a very large caramel frappe from the attached Evelyn Bay coffee & tea shop!!!
So I am really getting dragged down by this crappy weather. The mere fact that it might hit the 50 degree mark today had me so giggly it's not even remotely funny. So excited, in fact, that I wore a skirt, my amazing fishnet stockings that have flowers knitted into the pattern, and my incredibly awesome red 3 1/2" heels. Hubby tells me I'm a little nuts about the shoe thing because I have 3 baskets of shoes and about 1 3/4 is heels ... which leads me to my point today: how much crap is in your life? When you discover it, what do you do with it? Do you ignore it, hang on to it, use it as an excuse to not move forward?
Naturally I'm talking about both material and spiritual crap. Maybe it's that pair of jeans you fit 4 years ago but, thanks to a devastating knee injury, you can't seem to lose that last 12# to fit into them no matter how much you under-eat and over-exercise. Maybe it's that memory box, filled with pictures of old friends, old loves, aka the past. Maybe it's that grudge you've been carrying around in your mental backpack toward that co-worker who snubbed you that one time. Maybe it's the pain you're hiding from your spouse because they caused it and you don't want to 'ripple the waters'.
*SIDENOTE: Again, God affirms the message through my music station - Dara Maclean's 'Suitcases' just came on!!!*
When our houses become cluttered with stuff, what do most people do? We donate stuff or have a yard sale! Personally, I'm in favor of donation. I've learned that yard sales are a TON of work and at the end there is still stuff left that ends up getting donate. Plus, quite often, the most dedicated yard-sale-scroungers are actually hoarders. So I'm really doing a service by not contributing to their issues by giving them more stuff to clutter their home with!
So when you're facing life crap that is mental, spiritual, or both, what do you do? Do you seek out the source of the issue and do your best to resolve it, or do you shove it in your mental backpack and 'forget' about it? As painful as dealing with a rough situation can be, allowing wounds to fester and grow is much more painful. We have a choice when we come face to face with life crap: take it on or turn away from it.
Given that we have THE Higher Power waiting around to help us at all times, it would be fair to assume that take it on would be the obvious and more often used solution. Sadly, this is wrong! Thanks to Satan and the thoughts of arrogance and inflated self-worth he plants in our heads and hearts, many people choose to turn away from it, creating a burden that they begin to carry around.
The longer that something is left undealth with, the worse the situation becomes, and the heavier the burden becomes to carry around. At the end of the day, this only creates more pain and frustration for those involved.
The worst is when we let fear stop us. The fear of being wrong, the fear of being belittled, the fear of confrontation aka becoming tongued-tied, the fear of being revealed as less intelligent or less organized or less hardworking, etc. All of these are legitimate fears, but each one comes with many strings attached. At the bottom of each string is a tiny weight. When dealing with the fear along, that weight is not too bad. But attach that weight to the weight of the situation we are afraid to deal with and suddenly we are doubled over struggling to bear the load our mental backpack now carries. 
The heavier that load becomes, the more it affects our hearts. Once something has changed or hurt our hearts, it becomes a spiritual issue. Pain and anger carried around often lead to people isolating themselves from others, and from God. Separation from people causes loneliness, but even worse is the separation from God. By definition, Hell is The Total Separation From God. There is no access to Him, absolutely no way to talk to Him, to hear His voice, to feel the comfort of His love.
If you want to talk about scary, Total Separation From God is about the scariest thing I can imagine. What most people don't realize or refuse to see is that the further you are separated from God in this life, the closer you come to Total Separation for eternity!
Fortunately, there is an answer! Believe it or not, it's simple. Much simpler than carrying around the burdens and baggage of un-dealt with life issues. Simply choose to take it on. Approach the subject first within yourself, asking God for direction. Look at what the problem is, what is causing the problem, and what can be done to solve the problem, If it involves another person, then pray for His grace to fill you with love and kindness and the right words to say, then approach that person in love. We have all had to deal with those people who just choose to cause trouble, so we are all aware that speaking one-on-one with the other person/people may not always work. Still, we should always try it. You never know how much pain someone else might be carrying around, and how simply approaching them in love to resolve a situation may change their whole perspective and therefore their life.
After the situation has been broken down and all the people involved have discussed possible solutions, it is extremely important to take a few moments and forgive each and every person for their role in the situation, including yourself. Then we must in turn ask for their forgiveness toward us for our actions. Even when we don't feel we did something wrong, remember that the other people may have responded negatively to whatever you did, creating the conflict and indication that they strongly felt you did something wrong.
The surest sign of true humility is the person who is willing to forgive and to ask forgiveness when a rough situation has occurred, regardless of whose fault it is that the situation was created. Nobody is perfect and we all say things in the heat of confrontation that do not come out right or that we do not truly mean. Add to it that these words are spoken often in anger, frustration, or defensiveness, and you have a recipe for pain.
Life is too short to be tied to earthly burdens, and eternity is too, well eternal, to carry those burdens around. Make an active choice to not bury issues and situations. Choose to take them on headfirst, to resolve them as soon as possible, to forgive, and to ask forgiveness. Personally, I will take a little pain right away over a nagging, annoying, and heavy long-term hurt. Besides, there are the added benefits of building self-confidence, communication skills, an ability to speak in love and peace, and a mindset of putting others first that come with dealing with the life issues as they roll at us. Not a bad payoff if you ask me!
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