Purging

This will be my fourth move since 2007. I realized this the other night before drifting off to sleep.  In these last five years I have, moved, provided home daycare, separated, went back to work as a teacher, divorced, moved to an apartment, met my husband, married, moved, and joined two families, quit teaching, and now am packing to move once again.

This is not just a purging week for me. It has been a purging month.  I have made at least four trips to the Goodwill, and I have another pile next to the door.

Make no mistake about it, I am a purger by nature and actually am thrilled to regularly look through my closets, bookshelves, and other hiding places to rid myself of items no longer cherished or needed.  But this purging is a little different.  Because after you finish the initial sweep to eradicate unwanted items and pack a box or two, you realize that there is actually more stuff still lurking, some of it awkwardly shaped items that you have no idea how to pack, some of it items belonging to your husband of uncertain identity and usefulness.  Just when you think you are finished, something else creeps up that must be dealt with properly.

It is somewhat like that point in time when you stop just being angry at someone else and start to deal with your own “stuff” that has put you in a difficult place to begin with.  Layer upon layer of hurts and lies-believed-truths must be faced and dealt with.  It’s when your spouse or friend says or does something that triggers the wound-buried-deep-thought-forgiven-and-forgotten.  “Oh, you’re still there?”  And it takes a great deal of perseverance to continue to address the issues and hurts that arise as you walk through life because it’s really easier just to fill the time with something else—anything, really, that will keep you from having to actually deal with what is inside you.

We pack this “stuff” deep into the hiding places of our hearts, so it will never see the light of day.  But light is exactly what it needs to see.  To see the light of God’s healing Truth which robs the lie of any power it once held.  Lain at the feet of Jesus, our insecurities, fears, and sins don’t matter.  We can give them away to one who washes us clean and heals our brokenness.

What lies have you held on to as if they were treasures?  What have you packed away in your heart instead of God’s Truth?  Listen to the song below and take these questions to Him.