By Dr. Rebecca Dowden

rebeccadowden@gmail.com

"Turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2: 2-5)

I open the refrigerator door and grab the mayonnaise. Just as the door shuts and I turn to walk back to the counter, my nostrils curl up at the rancid smell wafting from the refrigerator. "Yuck, what could that stench be?" I wonder.

While I make my sandwich, I briefly consider the stinky situation. "I didn’t leave any leftovers in the frig. It shouldn’t stink like that. Maybe it was just my imagination. It could be coming from somewhere else. Maybe there’s something in the sink."

My sandwich is done, and I move to the patio to enjoy the beautiful day and my sandwich. The thoughts of the refrigerator and its rotting contents are gone and replaced with more pleasant distractions. Unfortunately, the decay doesn’t stop, so the next time I open the refrigerator door, there it is - bigger and "badder" this time!

I know some of you would never do such a thing. You’d stop in the middle of your sandwich making and investigate until you found the putrid culprit. However, many of you would have gone to the patio with me to enjoy your sandwich! It might not be the refrigerator for you. Maybe you’d put off going to the doctor to find out why your stomach hurts, or maybe you’d avoid going into your teenager’s room even though you’ve seen some warning signs you don’t like, or maybe you just stay away from that disaster of a closet at the end of the hall.

We all share the impulse to avoid uncomfortable situations, things that bring us pain, even if the situation will get worse by ignoring it, or at the very least, not get any better. While my smelly refrigerator will have little consequence in the big scheme of my life, my heart is another story!

God instructs us to search our hearts. He tells us how our hearts can be deceived, and He reminds us our heart is a treasure, a wellspring from where our life comes. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. But like the stinky refrigerator or jam-packed closet, we have a difficult time being willing to investigate and clean out the decaying wounds in our heart. It hurts too much!

THE TRUTH

"…know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:32)

God makes it very clear to us that we find freedom when we know the truth. However, we have to be willing to uncover, dig, and stay in the smelly situation until the air is cleared by the Truth.

People come to counseling because they are tired of something in their lives. That is an important first step, but many of us hesitate when we find out that to heal from the abuse we suffered as a child, or the trauma we experienced as a young adult, or find recovery from an addiction, we must be willing to take God’s hand and with His love as our security, uncover the lies and decay these events have planted in our hearts.

TRUST GOD

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5)

I hate poking my head into the suffocating caverns of my refrigerator, trying not to breathe the molecules of dying food into my lungs. I have to work up a lot of courage to do it! "I may never find the source of this invader!" I can get so easily discouraged in those few moments of olfactory assault. "Oh ye of little faith!" I chide myself after I have found the 3 week old tuna salad hiding behind the economy sized pickles shoved in the very back of the bottom shelf.

How much more can we trust God to lead us to the places in our heart that are leaking stench into our daily lives. He sent Jesus so we could have the Truth, so we could have abundant life, and most importantly so we could have a relationship with Him. Unfortunately, those things in our lives that we are not willing to face and heal with God’s truth not only bring us pain and destruction in our earthly relationships, but they also interfere in the intimacy we can have with God. We hide from Him, we run from Him- maybe into our busy-ness. We can even come to blame Him.

DON’T WAIT

We don’t want to wait until the stench has taken over the whole house to clean out the refrigerator, nor do we want to wait until the lies and wounded-ness of our hearts have spread their virus so far that we experience even more pain in our lives and relationships. God wants all of us, including our "stinkyness." In fact, He wants to be the one we lean on and trust and "take into" those painful places in our hearts. There is freedom and life on the other side when we are willing to journey into those scary, painful places with God. No matter how smelly the situation, He is always a breath of fresh air!

Copyright Rebecca Dowden