Emotional Junk Drawer: Choose Your Master
It's always my pleasure to say 'Hello' to new friends! This week I want to welcome our friends in Portugal, Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Japan! So glad you have joined us!
If you missed any of our last discussions about the Junk Drawer, stop here and catch up! It's important that you understand what we've covered already.
- Everyone has an emotional junk drawer
- If anyone understands emotion, it's David!
- Junk drawers cause relationship problems with God
- It's hard, but it's worth it
So here are. We outed ourselves and our junk drawers. We took a good look at how we were letting our past come between our present and our future. Hopefully, you came to the point of realizing that you cannot drag along all your hurts and follow Christ too. So, what's a girl to do? Honestly, the answer is so much easier said than done. When you carry big open wounds in your heart you can't just wish them away and declare "Done!" because some crazy, good-looking girl with a blog told you to. You can't just go around pretending things never ever happened to you either. What's the answer then?
First, we have to acknowledge, pledge, declare, swallow, or however you want to say it that we cannot control everything that has happened to us in the past (or that will happen in the future for that matter). There will be many more questions than there will be answers, but the longer you stare into that deep dark tunnel the darker it gets. Second, we need to work on redirecting our thoughts into Christ-centered thoughts. Here's the thing, you don't just bury the past, you cover it with God's grace. He has set you free from it and made you new. This does not in any way mean that we avoid or ignore problems, it means we stop dwelling on negativity which eats us alive like a cancer. Some things we get stuck on and it influences everything we do forever(remember that loop tape we talked about??)! It means we stop allowing this darkness to master our every move and we follow in the footsteps of the faithful who went before us. Let's get real with ourselves. Our junk gives us tunnel vision on ourselves. This makes us blind to others, to God and to His purpose for our lives. We miss out on joy because we are missing out on literally everything else. There is a difference in confessing and resolving issues and obsessing over the past because you want control that you simply cannot have. We all need that top-down approach. We need to look at the incomplete puzzles of our lives and be able to say with confidence "God can fill all of the holes. His grace is sufficient." In other words, we have to allow God to rewrite our story AND the way we tell it in our heads.
We have to learn how to cope with the feelings of inadequacy through embracing our position as a child of God
It is no mistake that Psalm 119:2 says "Happy are those who keep his decrees who seek him with their whole heart". All of these are good, healthy habits. These are how we press on.
Last night I was at our homegroup Bible study and I was so encouraged just sitting with my friends and reading Philippians. I was also reminded of some crucial elements. God doesn't call us out so that we can do the easy stuff in life and live in the comfort zone (which is what we keep striving for by avoiding the issues, right?). God calls us out so that we can trust Him to take EVERY step, through every dark valley. Paul gave up everything to live a life "worthy of Christ". His life after his conversion was nothing but hardship and imprisonment and yet, he was joyful! As I began to think about the joy my junk drawer has cost me, I couldn't help but think of Paul. How did he sit in a prison for so long and not build a drawer of anger? How did he sit there alone and not fill his drawer with resentment? How did he go through so much rejection and not drag behind him a drawer full of pain and sorrow? That's when it hit me. He had no room for such a drawer. When Paul gave up everything, he gave up EVERYTHING including all rights to hold grudges, be bitter, or cling to emotions that were not benefitting to the Kingdom of God. His mind and heart were completely focused on Christ and there was no room or need for anything more. Paul was at such peace with this arrangement that he embodied peace and joy in every circumstance and situation. He was free even when he was in chains.
Our problem is that we put ourselves in chains even as we have been set free. As I read through Psalm 119 and I took in how much David trusted God with his entire existence, I was convicted by how much I struggle to trust Him with these feelings. Then I was looking at the life of Moses and I saw how he had to hold his faith against an entire nation of untrusting Israelites and I realized I would not have been Moses in that story. Then I came to Paul. That's when I realized my drawer had begun to take me over because I was trying to master it myself. No one WANTS to have these things (trust me they aren't on anyone's Christmas list). So it's time we allow the Master to take over. It's time to not just dump our junk, but that we dump ourselves. Yes, we need to break up with ourselves for good. We need to allow God to Master us entirely. I promise there is more than just your junk drawers going on inside. In order to move to the same contented peace as Paul, we have to have the same mindset as Paul. We have to be able to say "Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death." Philip 1:20b Could you wholeheartedly say that now? Then now is the time to choose your master. Who will it be? You cannot have more than one and that has been our problem this entire time. If you cannot shake your thoughts on your own, seek help. For the rest, I implore you to CEASESLY spend time with God until He is ceasely with you. Allow Him to master your life and grace fills all the spaces your junk once did. Paul was in prison, Moses was in the wilderness, David was on the run and yet they still had a closeness with God that we need to have! The last time I had close to this many children in my home (it was 7 then), I found myself in this same spot. I was struggling with chaos, fatigue, feelings of inadequacy and fear of the future. Not surprisingly, I found myself looking at Paul. I did what he did and what I'm talking about now. I let it all go and I laid it all down. I gave up all the junk for something much, much better. One of the best times in my life was that year that God grew me in our relationship. This tells us that these hard times can be the most amazing times with God if we draw close to Him and allow Him to be the Lord of all. Join me in dumping the junk and being set free. It's past time that peace came to live with you.
First, we have to acknowledge, pledge, declare, swallow, or however you want to say it that we cannot control everything that has happened to us in the past (or that will happen in the future for that matter). There will be many more questions than there will be answers, but the longer you stare into that deep dark tunnel the darker it gets. Second, we need to work on redirecting our thoughts into Christ-centered thoughts. Here's the thing, you don't just bury the past, you cover it with God's grace. He has set you free from it and made you new. This does not in any way mean that we avoid or ignore problems, it means we stop dwelling on negativity which eats us alive like a cancer. Some things we get stuck on and it influences everything we do forever(remember that loop tape we talked about??)! It means we stop allowing this darkness to master our every move and we follow in the footsteps of the faithful who went before us. Let's get real with ourselves. Our junk gives us tunnel vision on ourselves. This makes us blind to others, to God and to His purpose for our lives. We miss out on joy because we are missing out on literally everything else. There is a difference in confessing and resolving issues and obsessing over the past because you want control that you simply cannot have. We all need that top-down approach. We need to look at the incomplete puzzles of our lives and be able to say with confidence "God can fill all of the holes. His grace is sufficient." In other words, we have to allow God to rewrite our story AND the way we tell it in our heads.
We have to learn how to cope with the feelings of inadequacy through embracing our position as a child of God
The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory;you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate.But you will be called Hephzibah (My Delight Is in Her) Is 62:2-4aWe have to learn how to deal with the struggles of fear by meditating hourly on the FACT that it is God working THROUGH us.
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philipp 2:13
Also read Eph 3:14-21 Again!!We have to learn to deal with bitterness, pain, loss, and even anger by trading them in for something of far greater value-a greater intimacy with Christ. Everything is a loss when compared to Christ, even pain.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ Phillip 3:7-8
It is no mistake that Psalm 119:2 says "Happy are those who keep his decrees who seek him with their whole heart". All of these are good, healthy habits. These are how we press on.
Last night I was at our homegroup Bible study and I was so encouraged just sitting with my friends and reading Philippians. I was also reminded of some crucial elements. God doesn't call us out so that we can do the easy stuff in life and live in the comfort zone (which is what we keep striving for by avoiding the issues, right?). God calls us out so that we can trust Him to take EVERY step, through every dark valley. Paul gave up everything to live a life "worthy of Christ". His life after his conversion was nothing but hardship and imprisonment and yet, he was joyful! As I began to think about the joy my junk drawer has cost me, I couldn't help but think of Paul. How did he sit in a prison for so long and not build a drawer of anger? How did he sit there alone and not fill his drawer with resentment? How did he go through so much rejection and not drag behind him a drawer full of pain and sorrow? That's when it hit me. He had no room for such a drawer. When Paul gave up everything, he gave up EVERYTHING including all rights to hold grudges, be bitter, or cling to emotions that were not benefitting to the Kingdom of God. His mind and heart were completely focused on Christ and there was no room or need for anything more. Paul was at such peace with this arrangement that he embodied peace and joy in every circumstance and situation. He was free even when he was in chains.
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