CLEARING AWAY THE CLUTTER

My husband and I {Ginny} put aside our fears and recently made the decision to begin the process of selling our home.  That means, of course, that it is time to go through our home and make it showcase worthy. 

Something I need to tell you right now - I am not queen bee when it comes to keeping a home clutter free and shiny clean.  God just thought He would bestow me with other gifts but for some reason, cleaning wasn't a gift or a passion He decided to give me.  That means...we have our work cut out for us!

We decided to tackle our basement first because that gave us the most heart palpitations out of any part of our house when we looked at it.  It took us a few days to summon the courage to even go down there, but we finally rolled up our sleeves, put our hard hats on, and began to dig through the clutter.  It really felt like we were on one of those hoarding shows!

We made four piles - one to give away, one to sell, one to keep, and one for trash.  And then we painstakingly made our way through bins and boxes galore. 

Slowly, we began to notice a strange thing appear underneath all of the "stuff" - a floor!  Who knew that was there all this time?  And before long, we made a path, and then...days later - bins were neatly stacked along the walls, we posted our for sale things on Craigslist and Facebook, and the Veterans came and took things we wanted to give away.  We stood back and looked at our newly organized and clean basement and took a deep breath.  I felt like I had been holding my breath for days, and now I could finally feel that sweet oxygen flowing through me again.

When I think about how that clutter that we had been holding onto in my basement scared me and made me feel like I couldn't breathe, I began to realize that more than my basement was cluttered in my life.  My heart was cluttered as well.

All this time, I have been holding onto pain from my past, thinking about other people's issues, and worrying about things.  I haven't truly let a lot of those things go.  I have them packed up in boxes inside of me, and I haven't really taken the time to open those boxes and sift through the mess inside.  I need to decide what is worth holding onto that will strengthen me and help me move forward in my quest to glorify God and what is worth letting go.

What are you holding onto that you need to finally let go of? 

• Something hurtful someone told you in your past that still lingers in your thoughts?
  
• Your checklist of the wrongs that someone has done to you?
  
• Fears that are holding you back from doing something?
  
• Anger at someone or something or even God?
  
• Sin that has been plaguing you for years?
  
• Worrying about a situation or a future possibility of which you have no control?
  
• Perseverating on what others are doing wrong and how you can "fix" them?
  
• Constantly thinking about everything you need to do? (I will cover this in Part 2!)

I encourage you to find support from a trusted person in your life or a counselor to help you begin to declutter these things from your life.  But most of all, remember that God is the one who can truly help you let them go and to work through the process of forgiveness of others and yourself.  Give them to Him and pray He will help you.  I have already seen him work in my own life by placing the right people and opportunities in my path that have helped me start to work through the pain of my past. 

I pray that as you do this, you will finally be able to breathe again, feel joy that you haven't felt in a long time, and have the freedom to stop letting these hold you back from serving God fully with your life. 

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