Super Simplified Steps For Personal Issues in Your Inner Life (Repentance)

 As I was waking up from a dream the other morning, there was a line of reasoning statements that were running through my head. It was like a breakdown of how renewal, restoration, and freedom can happen... and as odd as it may sound, it had to do with self-awareness of wounding, hurt and sin.  It went something like this:

You can't address an issue if you don't know it's there.

(Likened to a problem your car may have, such as a leak in a hose, all may seem well-running until someone who has the eyes to see it can tell you, or things start breaking down.)

Many unaware will go on with life without a care, "Why fix it if it ain't broke?" until something happens.

Also, when people who are aware can point out the issue (they may or may not be trying to help you save time, money, and tears), in the long run, the weighed-out advice can help you avoid some degraded issues!

If you get stuck or ignore the issue, instead of finding a solution, breakdown naturally occurs.

We can find all sorts of excuses and reasons to stay at the problem level. Or we can just toss it in the pile of other "later to-do lists with an ambiguous ranking" along with unfulfilled resolutions we never got around to.

Focusing too much on the issue, beating yourself up, or having it looming in the back of your head doesn't help anyone and overtime leads to unhealthy thought life and even depression.

Ignoring the issues just brings a looping pattern of problems that gets worse and amplified over time.

Some of you are on that journey of finding a solution and I commend you! Don't stop or give up! 

You won't stop reoccurring problems if you don't get to the root issue. 

No one likes pain, but making the pain go away as quickly as possible won't necessarily fix the problem. 

A proper diagnosis (which takes admittance that there is an issue, observations, and many times seeking help from experts) is only the beginning of the process of getting things taken care of. 

If we go with the car analogy, turning up the radio so you don't hear a rattling from under the hood doesn't really touch on the problem at all, but you will get to sing your heart out to your favorite tune.

Paying attention to the first sign of something wrong can help address the problem immediately but if an issue has been around for some time (known or unbeknown to the owner), special attention is needed! Going to a seasoned mechanic, or for health problems, to a doctor for a consultation is the idea here. If we take the time and money to solve solutions for these types of things, why skip out on your emotional and spiritual health also?

Believe it or not, this journey to restoration is what the journey of repentance looks like too!
Components of connection, emotional stability, absence of contentment/joy can be some signs of  "break down/brokenness," and the need for a renewal process is real. 

All of us have been through these experiences of unattended, poorly-functioning places of the mind, emotional or relational states. This is a human condition. (This is not a statement to divide people who are "bad" from people who are "good.") 

The Holy Spirit is an expert guide in bringing about restoration and new outcomes. The repentance is that we no longer live with the same on-going issues. It is as simple as acknowledging the issue, seeking restoration, and advice to change something that doesn't work, then starting with the new solution. 

It would be pretty silly to imagine getting a new engine part for your car and after 2 weeks or so, missing your old one, go dumpster-diving only to re-install the old, broken car part back in the engine. The evidence of repentance and the actual part of the meaning of the word is a "change of mind" coinciding with a "turn [away]", not going in the same direction.

When we approach God in repentance, the catch is, when we seek him, it is simultaneously admitting that we can't do it on our own and asking him to take over, all the while Jesus has already paid the full price for the exchange!

I know this is super generalized and in simplified terms, but I gotta say, there are enough over-complicatedly statements of how God works when He repeatedly makes things simple enough for children to come to Him and leaves explaining the mystery through relationship.

On a related note, repentance can also be seen in restoration in personal relationships, work relationships, your own personal growth (the relationship with yourself). It really isn't something foreign, but imagine what degree of impact it will have on you with God. It's not that complicated, although it takes the first step to start a process.