True Identity Ministries Blog

Isaiah 43:18-19 "But forget all that- it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in dry wasteland."

Oh, the joy of Christmas vacation! We have spent a nice amount of time having some family bonding, such as-reading together, cuddling by the fireplace and having devotional time with my nine-year-old, playing Barbies with my daughter, air hockey tournaments,and on and on. While this has all been wonderful, I have also spent some time doing something that brings me joy and satisfaction! De-cluttering! :)

It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a family of six. Shoes, clothes, books, toys, stuff, stuff and more stuff! (and I’m not even a pack-rat!) My husband spent time re-cleaning (notice I say re-cleaning because it seems like this is a project that is constantly needing repeated!) and organizing the garage, and I have spent much time going through the kids’ rooms.

With some new clothes they received for Christmas, toys and movies, it was another great opportunity (and excuse) to clean out dresser drawers, closets and toy boxes. We were able to get rid of bags of clothing that were no longer fitting them, throw out broken toys, pass down toys they had grown out of and just simply…de-clutter! It felt so great at the end to look at the finished product and see how much better it looked. :)

This brought me to think of a spiritual parallel that is very timely and fitting. It’s almost the first of the year and we are at that time to set our New Year’s goals and resolutions. As I was getting ready to sit down and do this, I was reading over a Rick Warren devotional titled, Your Heart is Designed for God to Fill. The purpose of the devotion was to remind us that our hearts were designed to contain God. He says this is similar to a garage being designed for a car, yet many times people cannot even park in their garages because they are so full of other things! Ha! How many of us have ever been here before?

It’s the same way with our hearts-they were designed for God, but many times there is no room for Him.As I was de-cluttering my home, I was thinking about this. Is my heart and life so full with other things that there’s no room for God? Like the broken toys; are there areas of brokenness that need to be healed by God? Like the piles of clothing that my children no longer needed; are there piles of unforgiveness, bitterness or offenses that I need God to help me work through and get rid of? Like getting rid of the kids’old movies and adding on some new ones; are there some old thought patterns I need to replace with some new ones?

Philippians 4: 8 (NLT) “And now, dear sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

As we enter the New Year, now is the time to de-clutter your life. What things have taken greater priority than God in your life? One easy way to tell is asking yourself this question-What do you think about the most? Are there some things in your life and heart that are pushing Him out? Ask God to guide you through the de-cluttering process. He is waiting to do something new in your New Year! And...oh, what a sweet feeling we will feel afterwards!

Love,
Stephanie