show me your problem 5-24-26

My daughter Sharon Joy Schulte wrote the following for her facebook page. I think it is worth sharing with my readers.I begged my mom to let me bring home a pitiful-looking litter of kittens from the neighborhood dumpster.For some reason she said, “yes” to those sickly kittens. I cuddled them, washed them and held them nonstop. I adored them.I developed an itchy rash on my chest. Within days, I had five rashy-rings on my chest. Then the little rashes bloomed on my head! The bald spots on my head grew to the size of a nickel and a quarter.My mom looked at the spots on my head and casually asked, “Do you have any more spots like this?”Embarrassed, I admitted, “I have pretty big rashes on my chest.” I opened my shirt to give her a peek.She quickly took me to see the doctor.I had only seen Dr. Seale, our family doctor, a handful of times. When he asked me to lift my shirt, my face burned with shame and embarrassment. I did not want to let him see what was under my shirt! I thought, “Surely this is a violation of my privacy, right? He does not actually need to see, does he?”That happened more than 35 years ago, but I can still feel my heart race when I think about how much I hated to be so vulnerable in that doctor’s office, or even with my mom!I looked at my mom. “He HAS to see your rash so that he can help you,” she explained.Slowly, with tears in my eyes and a catch in my throat, I lifted my shirt.My mind raced. “How embarrassing.”“People aren’t supposed to see this.”“This is private.”“We’re not supposed to show people this part.”Dr. Seale had seen all sorts of problems. He wasn’t scandalized or bothered. He lifted his flashlight to the rash and declared, “Yep, ringworm. Apply this cream a few times a day, and it will go away.”I followed the steps for treatment. He was right. When I allowed someone to know about my problem, he helped me toward healingI think about this story often. It illustrates how we feel as adults about seemingly shameful issues: financial struggles, marriage issues, challenges with staying sober, children who are making poor decisions, bad grades, job loss, a new health diagnosis or mental health issues. Too often we think, “No one can know about this. This is private. I can handle this on my own.”Those are lies.Pride keeps us from being vulnerable and letting people know we don’t have it all together.In a world where we are supposed to curate a perfect image of our lives and choose what people know and see, it can seem like no one has any real problems.That is also a lie.We think people will be horrified to hear about our struggles when the reality is that there is nothing new under the sun. Even the most wonderful, upstanding citizens have issues. Maybe they don’t post their struggles online, but everyone has problems.If you talk with me long enough, you will hear me share about struggles in family, marriage, finances, child-rearing, etc.Over the years, I have had friends who trusted me with their problems. Those conversations freed me from thinking I had to be perfect. I try to model emotional vulnerability because it’s powerful to say “this is a problem! I’m trying to deal with it. Can you help?”When we share, it frees others to say, “Oh! You have problems? Me, too!”I have watched families and church communities implode because people tried to protect others from the mess of private life. Too often when we do that, the cancer of hidden sin and struggles grows. We don’t have to share our problems with everyone, but we can’t find healing if we don’t allow someone to shine a light on the issue and help with the healing process.When people share the hardest parts of their lives and ask people to pray with them, we get to share the load. It’s a privilege to get to walk alongside people and listen as they unload their emotional burdens. We aren’t meant to walk the roads of life alone.James 5:16 says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Lift your shirt.Let someone see the problem.Follow the treatment plan.Experience true healing.