Imprinted

When I clean my house, I only use all-natural cleaners. Now, before you start thinking how earth-conscious I am (although that is a great reason to use natural cleaners), there’s a deeper reason. When I was about four years old, my baby sister got into a cabinet and put a cap of the skull-and-crossbones kind of cleaner into her mouth. Even though I was young, I clearly remember riding in my dad’s car behind the ambulance and praying, “God, please don’t let my sissy die!” Thankfully, my sister is just fine today. But this experience left an imprint on my soul: a fear of cleaning chemicals. For years, I wondered why I had anxiety when I helped someone clean their house with different products. When my kids were babies, I was super-vigilant and called the poison control number several times, none of which resulted in anything dangerous. Now, it makes sense. We all have habits that we default to, even ones that may not seem rational. Sometimes, we can look back in our past and find the “trigger” where these behaviors started to form, while others may be buried deep in our souls and take some digging to uncover. Why does our younger sibling’s whining set us on edge? Why do we have a compulsion to make sure our hair is just perfect? Why do we have extreme anxiety when we are running late? Whatever your “default” is, there may be an underlying reason lurking in your past. This can start to feel overwhelming, but there is so much hope. If you are God’s child, you are imprinted in a different way. You have His imprint on your heart and soul, reminding you that you are His forever (John 10:28-29; Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 3:1). God promises that in Christ, you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). He will complete the work He began in you until the day He comes again (Philippians 1:6). You have the power of the Holy Spirit, who comforts you, teaches you, and reminds you of everything Jesus has said (John 14:26). You can tell your heart that you are not just a product of your past. You are imprinted by the God of the uni