Sep
05
Lessons on Healing from a Kitchen Disaster-Part 1
ByThree and a half weeks ago we had a repairman come to fix our washing machine and refrigerator ice maker. He was the most incompetent or at least inexperienced contractor I have ever met. For instance, it took him 3 hours to remove a screw from the washing machine. Finally I MADE him drill it out (with our drill). He was about to either bang up our machine, or walk away with a washer full of smelly water (because of COURSE the washer died right before the spin cycle).
After 8 hours here, he finally was done, Exhausted ourselves, we went out to dinner. When we got back around 9pm, water was all over our kitchen floor, pouring into the basement below, which is finished. Took us several hours to clean up.
Two weeks later, I filed a claim with our insurance company. A restoration crew came out right away to assess the damage. They said the whole kitchen needs to be ripped out to put in a new floor and perhaps new cabinets–right then! I said I needed some time to prepare for living without a kitchen, so they came back a week later. My husband and I had reconfigured our whole house to prepare for the probability of living without a kitchen.
It's not certain we will get new cabinets,we're waiting to see what Allstate will do. At least for now, we have a kitchen to work in. It's a total wind tunnel at the moment, with a huge dehumidifier and 3 powerful fans blowing all over, but at least we can do a few things in there. We will for sure get a new floor and new counter tops, and the carpet in the adjacent living room and dining room (carpet got wet near the kitchen) will at least be cleaned. When they pulled the carpet up, we just discovered there are beautiful oak hardwood floors underneath! A nice surprise.
So the bottom line is, we will get almost a whole new kitchen for very little money, perhaps free if the insurance company can get our deductible from the appliance repair company who caused the problem in the first place.
From someone else's mistake (the repairman did not attach the water hose properly for the water line to the refrigerator, the second repairman told us), we will get things in our kitchen replaced (and paid for) that really needed replacing. To me it's a metaphor for what God does with us. He takes the things we or other people do wrong, and transforms it.
That process may involve things getting much worse before they get better. If you have ever remodeled a kitchen, you know better than I do at this point what's involved. Already we've had to clear out several places in the house so that we can rearrange things and set up the makeshift kitchen we thought we would need. We've had to clean out spaces that seemingly have nothing to do with a kitchen, such as the basement, so that we can store things that are now in the area that we thought would need to become our temporary kitchen.
For us the disaster came unexpectedly, as so many other things in life do. Perhaps it's a health crisis that lands you in the hospital. Suddenly your life is in an upheaval, and you find that to heal, you have to change a lot in your life and "clean out" heart issues you didn't even know were there.
In handling our crisis, we've had to go through a lot of stuff we should have thrown away a long time ago. Just as with the heart issues that hide in the memories we've never even thought of for years, we need to be willing to look at, evaluate, toss out or deliberately keep a lot of stuff we'd not given any thought to for years.
My daughter (age 17) said, of this cleanup process, "This is great! We're finally getting rid of stuff." (She doesn't like clutter. My husband and I don't, either, but we're better at ignoring it.)
Short term pain, long term gain. Just like with healing heart issues. You finally get rid of stuff that should have been gotten rid of a long time ago: lies you've believed, memories that need to be healed, forgiveness given and received.
I'll keep you posted on this ongoing analogy. I am already learning so many lessons and seeing so many gifts of grace through it all.
It is all about developing a thankful heart. First to be thankful for the things that have gone right that you have not seen or recognized. Next is to grow in thankfulness and be thankful in more and more things. Finally is to be thankful for the things you do not want at all, like an incompetent, inexperienced worker. That heart of thankfulness also develops a heart of forgiveness. Where thankfulness and forgiveness live it is easy to let go of needless garbage and clutter both metaphorical and tangible.
Yes, Steve, well said! Thankfulness is the key. Miracles happen when you trust God enough to thank him for everything.
Hi Diane, I loved your story… the secret and magic word is: FORGIVING — but it can be so hard to forgive from the bottom of your heart…. because only then healing can take place. That´s why you have to go on and on and on with the Healing Codes every day three times. It is like peeling an onion until you finally come to the core… and then it burns most and tears shoot in your eyes … but afterwards your vision is clear.
Thank you for sharing.
Yours
Monica
Thanks for sharing, Monica! I agree completely. Love your image!
I often think of you with your PFO condition in the past and how that healed. My doctor wanted to put me on medication because my left ventricle of my heart has "thick walls" from high blood pressure. If God through the Healing Codes can heal a hole in the heart then I'm sure I can heal thick heart walls.
Thank you for this article. The statement you made, "He takes the things we or other people do wrong, and transforms it" is very touching and apt for me.
[…] low physical stress, borderline high mental stress (yes, it has been a very stressful season, with the kitchen issue among other things). But my stress resistance was even […]
[…] low physical stress, borderline high mental stress (yes, it has been a very stressful season, with the kitchen issue among other things). But my stress resistance was even […]
Yes Diane,
We do need to do clean ups from time to time. It seems that there is always something better to do than to clean out "stuff". Finally our higher selves arrange things so that the clean up must be done.
Love, Sharon
So true! And then it’s clear that now it is a priority.
An eye opener…
Sounds like a miracle in disguise. Thank goodness you recognized this right away. I would have had to rail for a few hours before getting it.
One time I finished a washing load after an all day session washing and drying, Took the kids to drive-in movie. Came back to find water coming out the front door. Fortunately no basement, had slab floors. My neighbor and I swept out water and rolled up carpet and spread it outside on lawn to dry. Sure taught me to never leave the house with appliances running. I love you Diane and will practice the healing code with your video. Haven't done it for awhile. I'm 80 and fortunately no serious health problems. But I am interested in natural healing. … Read more »
Aw, thanks, Betty! I’ll remember about the washing machine. Of course, this was a refrigerator, so that always runs.
Hi Diane,
Thank you for that beautiful story, that proves that God is using you, to help and encourage us all.
Blessings,
Caroline de Rosairo
Well said Diane. How often I react so negatively to these challenging growth opportunities.