House Cleaning to Heal

A few years ago I was praying about how to help a new friend that was lost in depression.  The message I got was, "Help her clean house!"

As I held up each item she agreed to give me her first impression...how it made her feel.  Was it a 1) Happy feeling?  2) Negative memory?  Or 3) No feeling whatsoever.  If She said "No feeling" then I asked her if it was serving any function, and if not, would she like to sell or donate?

If you've ever tried to do this exercise, or help someone do this exercise, you know it is exhausting very quickly.  We came to a Tiffany style lamp, which had some cracks and was not currently working.

"What about this lamp?" I asked.  She said, "It's supposedly worth a lot of money; it belonged to my grandfather."  "How does it make you feel?"  She replied, "My grandfather sexually molested me."  I wasn't expecting that answer to be blurted out, and I couldn't help but ask, "Why have you kept it all these years?"  She said that she thought she would sell it one day for a lot of money. 

She needed money, so I asked her if she'd like my help in selling it.  I found out very quickly it was not a Tiffany, it was a very cheap knock-off.  No one was interested in it for more than $12.  Which made me extremely sad.  Sad that this friend had kept a painful memorial in her house, one that no doubt brought torment, but didn't have the emotional power to get rid of it.

Friends, the only thing worse than having meaningless decor in your home sanctuary is to have decor that has bad memories attached to it!

An injustice perpetrated on you can easily be memorialized by something you see and identify with those memories.  God never meant for us to put up objects to commemorate pain.  He is the Healer.  (Genesis 28:18)

A word of caution about the Tiffany knock-off example.  My friend was not triggered by every stained glass table lamp just because she had that memory.  That is mental illness on a whole different level. 

I'm sure someone benefited from that old donated lamp, and is being blessed by it now.  The phrase "There is no accounting for taste" means an object or experience viewed by people with different opinions on it cannot be measured objectively.

Someone very near and dear to me thinks the statue of liberty should go away, because it is an idol and an abomination.  For many more, it symbolizes freedom and the new hope of America.  On this particular issue, I am on the side of keeping her, but not worshipping her.

There's a lot of rage and depression out there right now.  None of it can be healed unless we start in our own hearts and houses.