There’s A Mouse in my House!

After five weeks of battling pneumonia,  I decided to catch up on my backlog of laundry. Picking up my laundry basket, I blindly barefooted the stairs. Only a few steps in, I felt something hard but formed with a touch of softness underneath the sole of my foot. I recalled a time as a nanny when I almost stepped on a baby mouse on the stairs. Just as I was thinking, at least this isn’t a mouse, my  foot released the resemblance of a baby mouse. In a panic, my almost healed lungs began screaming with what little volume it contained. Running down the stairs, I came across another! Completely beside myself, I stood on the treadmill at the bottom of the stairs, staring at these two mice. My brain was screaming, this can not be happening! However, the truth could not be denied, I had a mouse infestation. 

I stood on this treadmill for a long time, asking God why that had to happen. 

Lately, I have learned the heartbreaks of other’s traumatic realizations. They explain being completely unaware of the damage in their lives, homes, or relationships. This is the problem with sin, secrets, and pain. Kept in the dark, it multiplies. Unknown at the surface, everything seems fine. No traces are left behind and if there are, it’s so minute that you don’t suspect any trouble is brewing beneath the surface. Until one day, it can no longer be contained. The infestation has gotten so bad, it’s seeping out into your life and those around you. 

Thinking to oneself, how can this be happening? How did this get past me?  

That night as I caught my fourth mouse, being in stellar hunting mode now, I thanked God for revealing the problem. Instead of lamenting about it, I thanked Him for it. Had I not stepped on this mouse, I wouldn’t have realized how great an infestation was occurring. 

I’ve also faced many hard moments of stepping into unrealized trauma, and asking God, why couldn’t this remain unknown? 

It can be scary trusting God with what’s below the surface. However, being unaware of the problems that need tending is far more damaging. 

Just as I now peer down at each step before proceeding, is much like my answer to God with each step He guides. I know it might reveal something painful, yet I hesitantly take a step in faith and watch as His faithfulness unfolds.