I HAVE A MOUSE IN MY HOUSE 🐭😳😩😱👎🏻😵

Battling the Fear of the Unknown

Every Momma’s happy place is to have all her children under her roof during the Holidays. So, I felt more than blessed to spend Thanksgiving weekend with the whole tribe at my house. We played games, looked through family pictures, laughed a lot, and ate way too much. I would have to say everything was great, until it wasn’t. When I got up Sunday morning, my oldest son told me that I had a little friend in the house. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t had my coffee yet, but it took me a minute to understand what he was saying. Not until he explained that he was watching TV early that morning and saw something out of the corner of his eye run across the floor did I really grasp that the friend he was referring to was really an unwanted pest. And let me emphasize the word unwanted because I DO NOT DO MICE!

What is it about a tiny little creature that is more afraid of me than I am of it that puts me into a full blown panic attack? I’ve been thinking about this the last couple days when I’ve been hiding out in my bedroom too afraid to face my fears. It’s not as much the mouse as it is the fear of the unknown. Where is it at, when is it going to run out, could it be in the pantry when I open the door? So as I’m still locked up in my room I notice there is something on my chaise lounge. You guessed it, mouse poop. That stalker has now taken up residence in my bedroom, probably watching me sleep. There is nowhere safe…… I’m DONE.

You are probably asking if I’m really comparing living with a mouse to living with an addict. The answer is YES! Even though my questions may be different, addiction often causes me to live in a state of fear of the unknown. Why? Because I’m focusing on the behaviors of someone that I have no control over, instead of Jesus who has all my unknowns covered. Do you ever find yourself asking questions like:

Will my addict EVER get sober?

Will my addict relapse?

Will my addict lose his job? Will my addict end up in jail?

And the list of worries goes on and on and on.

Worry is putting a down payment on something that may never happen. In fact 99% of the things we worry about never even happen. Life is full of unpredictable moments, so how do we keep our mind from racing with anxiety and fear. One of my favorite things to do is memorize a Bible verse that combats my fear. My go to has always been, Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take-Proverbs 3: 5-6. I also like to focus on a recovery slogan like "One Day at a Time". There is no way to change yesterday, because it is already finished. There's no sense in focusing on tomorrow because I have no idea what that will look like. The one thing I can do is live in today. I recently heard someone say, if you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow you are peeing all over today 😉. I know that's gross, but it can really be true.

I know before I go you want to hear if I ever found my mouse. Well, I spent a complete day worrying about how many mice I had and how many traps I should buy. Next, I worried about what kind of trap would be the best and most humane way for my mouse to die. No, it didn't stop there, I then began to worry that if I did catch the mouse, what was I gonna do with it? What if it was still alive? What if it is screaming in agony on the glue trap? What if it chews its foot off in order to get away from the trap and then all I find on the trap is a foot? You may be laughing, but I seriously worried about all of these issues. Guess what… I only had one mouse, he is now in mouse heaven and everything I worried about was such a waste of time!

So let's agree together that we will spend a lot less time fearing the unknown and a lot more time enjoying life, knowing that Jesus has it all under control.