What is [Un] Junked? And why does this blog even exist? These are both wonderful questions!
About 5 years ago (maybe more), I was walking through a drug store and at the register there was this candy brand that I’d never seen before. With the influx of “healthy” options, this brand claimed to be the sweets that people loved without all the extra additives. I mean they offered all the alternatives to M&Ms, Reese, Hershey, etc… I love chocolate and I love not ingesting artificial dyes, so I was SOLD! Now, it’s not like they took away calories along with the other stuff, so I don’t know why I was so excited; but let’s worry about that at a later time. However, I really liked one word they used to describe their product. It was “unjunked.” For whatever reason, I thought this was incredibly creative (I’m also easily entertained). Either way, it was enough for me to remember that exact word. Their product was unjunked. Meaning it was the thing people really wanted without all the potentially harmful additions. Sounded like a pretty “sweet” deal! (I know that joke was corny, but I just told you I was easily amused)
So, how does my love for candy and a random impulse purchase from half a decade ago tie into this whole thing? Got you covered!
Well, when I was sharing with a friend that I really felt God had put it in my heart to start a blog/video blog (and after I doubted the whole thing because I felt so many people had blogs), they asked me a simple question: “What’s the name of the blog going to be?” Now, they completely ignored my reservations that I was trying to use as bait for a distraction. But I had my answer immediately. The blog was going to be titled [Un]Junked because the focus would be on having the relationship with God we always wanted without all the other stuff. For me to have procrastinated so much on believing the blog should exist, the title and the purpose came rather easily.
What is “all the other stuff” that I mentioned?!
That stuff would be junk. That stuff would be hurt. That stuff would be doubt. That stuff would be pain. That stuff would be fear. That stuff would be trauma. That stuff would be anything that feels like the last pebble (or boulder) in the way of us having a more connected, authentic relationship with God. And if we’re honest, it’s the same stuff that stops us from having more connected and authentic relationships with other people every day. The idea is that we seek out, confront and allow God to heal those things that hinder us from experiencing freedom in vulnerability.
Why is healing even important?
We don’t outgrow hurt, pain and trauma.
Now we do a lot of things with hurt, pain and trauma, but we don’t outgrow them. We attempt to mask them with accomplishments and/or self-sabotage, hoping that one or the other will keep the truth tucked away. We re-package and deliver them to unsuspecting people who never saw those curve balls coming in the first place. We try to out learn, out achieve, and outwit them, but somehow they show right back up; never missing a beat. But the original fact remains the same, we still don’t outgrow them.
We don’t heal by accident.
“They say time heals all wounds.” Can we just talk about this statement right here for a second? If you already know this to be a un-truth (because lie is a strong word for a faith-based blog…I think), can you just wave your hand in the air as a sign of agreement? (I know I can’t actually see you, but humor me here) But if we’re waiting on time alone to heal a wound, then we’ll just be waiting. It’s what we actively do in that time that determines our healing. Let’s say you accidentally cut yourself and you begin to bleed. Exactly how long would you sit there waiting on time to heal that open wound? (Don’t roll your eyes at me!) But you wouldn’t sit there at all! You would get up, clean that wound, bandage it, and protect it until it healed completely. That’s the same approach we should take with our internal and emotional wounds.
We don’t heal vicariously through others.
There is something about being wounded that makes us want to help others heal so badly! Sometimes we meet people that are hurting from the same things that are hurting us. Sometimes we think that if we keep helping enough people that it will change something in us. Now, being helpful is wonderful and pain does bring a new level of empathy; these are good things. However, supporting someone else in healing does is still not the same thing as getting healing for ourselves.
Side note: We have to stop trying to give people what we don’t have. But that’s an upcoming blog post!
We are worth it.
Here’s one of the most important things: We have to BELIEVE we’re worth the process! We have to buy into the fact that this journey to better is meant for us too. When God made promises in His word, never was there a clause that said “this promise is for all except *insert your name here*.” People are petty, God is not. If God believes we’re worth the healing, peace, freedom, clarity and wholeness we desire in life, we have to believe that because we’re not smarter than God.
I look forward to taking this journey with you! Don’t forget to subscribe and share!