Cleaning Out Clutter to Create Space
10/25/2017
When hurricane Irma was en-route, and we evacuated our home in Naples, Florida in September, we expected to come back to nothing. We were not worried about the prospect of losing it all but were at peace as we closed up and exited our home. In fact, we were thankful to have each other and to go as the Lord was leading knowing He would take care of us in whatever we would face.
Before returning home, the Lord convicted me and instructed me to go through everything in our home getting rid of anything that was unnecessarily taking up space. So after being gone for three weeks, and returning to an unscathed home, I immediately began working 13-16 hour days for three weeks. Even though we have decluttered continuously through the years, God took me to a new level of purging. I emptied every closet and over half the contents were boxed to give away. I went through EVERY piece of artwork made by my children and kept a few that were meaningful and threw out the others. I did the same with cards from my parents, grandmother, great aunt, dear friends, my children, and husband. They have either been filed or discarded. I went through pictures and placed the ones that needed to be in a book and threw out all duplicates. (I had about 14 bags of recyclable trash) I got rid of all our CD’s, most of our DVD’s and numerous games, etc. You get the picture!
In the midst of sorting, the Lord and I were having a great time as we reminisced together over the precious memories from years past. I had no idea what an invaluable gift I would take away from this act of obedience, but it was MIND BLOWING! I laughed...A LOT, shed tears of celebration, experienced deep satisfaction, and tasted eternal victory. To see the hand of my precious Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit displayed throughout was beholding. As I was physically emptying out closets, shelves, and containers, giving them a new look, He was doing that with me internally. My Lord was rebuilding and revitalizing my mind and soul with resplendent moments and memories in the inner chamber of my heart and soul.
The timing, of course, was well crafted by Him as my deceased son’s birthdate was within days. If I had avoided walking in obedience to the Lord due to fear of becoming sad or depressed, I would have missed the plethora of gifts He had for me. Those gifts enhanced my heart of celebration for Sterling on his birthday.
As a people, we surround ourselves with physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental clutter. We may not be aware, or we make excuses for why it exists: I don’t have the time, the money, the resources, the help, the energy, the ability, or the desire. Have you too become comfortable with your clutter? Do you realize it's taking up space that God could use for something else? God desires to remove anything that prevents us from being all we can be in Him, but He requires space to create newness. It’s just like a computer when it starts to slow down and is not running at full capacity; you need to declutter with either a defrag program or you manually eliminate things. Our lives require the same thing. We need to clean and clear out the clutter to create new space for God to do NEW THINGS in us.
Where is there clutter that you need to eliminate in your life? Is it physical possessions- stuff, emotional baggage, unhealthy relationships, past situations, or your mindset? Why are you holding onto this stuff? Is God not worth having that space for something new?
Ask God to show you where to clean out so you can create a clearing for Him to do new things! New space gives room for God to help, heal, revive the heart, renew hope and lift you to new spiritual heights.
Love you sweet ones and praying you create some space for newness!