Have you ever thought you’d gotten over a hurt and totally forgiven the one who hurt you, only to find that you’d just stuffed the hurtful situation down deep in your psyche, so deep that you would have sworn you’d never think about it again? Then – wham – up it pops, at the most unexpected time to ruin your day – or your life.

I have, and it can be devastating to be re-visited by some old, painful memory.

There’s one in particular that has liked to vex me for years, one I’ve been sure I’ve conquered with true forgiveness. Then out it has jumped to make my heart miserable all over again. Satan takes delight in dredging up old junk, which I can just see him and his cohorts dancing gleefully around as I wallow in my misery.

Not too long ago a particular hurt reared its nasty head, sending my  adrenalin into overdrive. All the self-talk I could muster wasn’t able to quell the memory of the hurt.

It occurred to me that this hurt was kind of like the glowing-eyed monster a child “sees” in her closet at night which causes her to slam the closet door, jump terrified into her bed and holler for her daddy. She can forget about that old monster all day long, going in and out of the closet at will, but when nighttime comes, out he pops in her memory to torment her.

The only way to get rid of the fear of that monster is for her daddy to take her by the hand, open the closet door, turn the light on and let her see what it is that is frightening her so. Then she will find, strengthened by her daddy’s presence, that the “monster” is only a stuffed monkey with green plastic eyes that’s tucked away amid the other clutter in her closet.

So the last time my hurt “monster” tormented me, I asked my Heavenly Father to spiritually “hold my hand” as He and I together opened the closet of my memory. Together we took out all the facets of that old hurt and looked at them in the Light that only He can shine. And guess what? That old hurt wasn’t at all the monster that I’d built it up to be.

Reviewing the hurt with God helped me to see how small and powerless it really is, just like that stuffed monkey – a monster of my mind no more.