I'm A Hoarder!

Disclaimer: This is NOT our house!!

We recently placed our house on the market. I could probably list a lot of reasons we decided to do it. Among them would be the need to move closer to my family, the desire to move to a more rural area, the love we have for Pike County, AR, the life changes we've gone through over the past two years. 

It is a fact that our goal is to move to Glenwood. We do love it there. It's quieter. I'll be able to work from home. There are five lakes and three rivers within a half-hour drive. Our alma mater (Henderson State) is also a half-hour away (we have fond memories of HSU and our college youth ministry, MBSF).

But the goal of moving to Glenwood is really secondary. Our primary goal was to be able to go where God sent us so we could serve there. It seemed like a very simple goal, right?

We found out different. It took us months to prepare our house for listing. First, there was painting, landscaping and weeding that had to be done on the outside. The same had to happen on the inside as well. We found out quickly that the inside was by far the most difficult part. It seemed the more we dug out of closets and corners and from under beds, the more there was to dig out. We ended up renting storage both in Cabot and in Glenwood. The Glenwood storage would hold things we needed but not in Cabot. The Cabot storage held things we might possibly need quickly. 

But a great deal of what we dug out didn't go to storage. It went into the garbage or to Goodwill. We discovered we had been hoarding a lot of things we would never use. We even found unused checks from the 1990s!! Our shredder was running 24x7 for awhile. We also found a lot of old photos from college or earlier, so we sat around with the girls and laughed and told stories to go with our photos. 

Eventually, the house began to look like it was ready for listing. The clutter in the rooms was gone. Lauren could actually get into her closet again and Lacey's toys all had a place again. In fact, the house actually felt more comfortable. It was as if there was added stress sitting in the house with us in the form of clutter and junk, and when we removed it all the stress just left! It also became much easier to actually put the house on the market.

Another discovery during this endeavor was that there was more clutter we had to get rid of. In order for us to truly be ready for God to lead us, we needed to rid ourselves of everything that was preventing us from picking up and moving. So there was a spiritual element that had to be dealt with. We began to realize we were also engaged in spiritual hoarding. There was a lot of spiritual clutter and junk we needed to clear out. And the things we were hoarding were different for Dana than for me. Nevertheless, there were things that we were refusing to rid ourselves of. Things that were cluttering up our hearts and causing us needless emotional and spiritual stress.

Some may not understand the stress of searching for a church home. Maybe it's easier for some to do than others. But that's just the thing isn't it? Some people struggle spiritually for completely different reasons than others. 

We found this spiritual clutter was also impeding our ability to step out on faith and do what we had been given to do. Just like hoarding can bring about a deep depression and withdrawal from society, spiritual hoarding can overwhelm us, depress us, and cause us to withdraw spiritually, effectively rendering us spiritually impotent. 

What did we do? We began to pray more specifically about our needs and goals. First we prayed about finding a church home. I have to confess that, for me, finding our new church was a burden lifted. There was also the problem of finding a place in Glenwood. Did we want to buy or build? If we did build, were we going to have to start construction in the middle of the winter? These are things we talked and prayed about. And, since we're human, we don't always keep these things at bay. So when they come back to burden us we just have to keep turning them over to God. 

So are we fully prepared to pick up and go wherever God leads? Well, probably not most of the time. However, there is a sense of accomplishment after having prepared a house for listing. And a sense of preparedness when you begin to overcome the spiritual obstacles. These combined make it much easier to say "I'm ready God!" and to truly have faith that He is going to open (and close) all the right doors for us!

Will we end up in Glenwood? Not if the Lord points us somewhere else! As I said, it's a secondary goal. The primary goal is to set ourselves in the middle of God's will.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. - Hebrews 12:1,2 (NIV)

Step Aside

We all know the story of Jonah, right? God said, "Do this." Jonah said, "No." God disciplined Jonah and again said, "Do this." Then Jonah complied.

We use this Biblical account to teach our children about obedience. We use it to teach our adults about discipline.

It really is a great story of God's grace and mercy and how God teaches us that, not only do we not need to know the whole story, we shouldn't be overly concerned with the end result of our efforts.

We do spend a lot of time considering this account and what it teaches us. But what if I told you God is not always so gracious and merciful?

Our Bible study for last Sunday was on Joshua. Specifically, it was about God passing the mantle of leadership to Joshua. It was from there that we began to discuss how easy it is to obey/disobey God and how God dealt with that disobedience.

In the context of this account of Joshua and Israel, the Israelites had seen God's hand in their delivery from bondage. Yet despite God's repeated miracles it was no time before they were complaining to Moses that he should have left them in Egypt. Furthermore, once they spied out the promised land, all but two of the spies said the people were too strong for them to take the land. The Israelites had so quickly forgotten exactly who had gotten them to this point. However, Joshua and Caleb had not. They knew it was not them who would take the land but God would, through them.

What did God do when the Israelites refused to take the land? He didn't discipline them did he? This is what God said in Numbers 14 (NIV):

"Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die."

God cursed the Israelite adults (20 years old or older) to die in the wilderness. He used them to raise their children so that their children would take their place and inherit the land He had promised to them. Essentially God told the Israelites to "Step aside and let someone else inherit your promise". He didn't spend any time trying to discipline them or rehabilitate them. He move on without them.

If we are going to teach our children lessons about God's grace and mercy we should be just as willing to teach them (and remind ourselves) about God's judgement. If we aren't willing to do what God asks us to do He is more than willing to find someone else who is willing.

Look at it this way. God didn't put aside one person who disobeyed. He put aside an entire generation who disobeyed! He told them they would not inherit His promise because they had disobeyed. These were God's chosen people! He had gone to what appears (to us) to be a great deal of trouble to get  them out of Egypt and into their own land.

This reminds me of a statement Bill Cosby once made about his childhood:

"From the age of seven my father established our relationship.  He said, 'I brought you into this world an I can take you out.  And it don't make no difference to me because I'll make another one who looks just like you'."

God loves us and He wants the best for us. But don't be deceived... He will not allow our disobedience to interfere with what He has planned to do. He will accomplish His will with or without us. Wouldn't you much rather be on the field than on the sideline?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

This is God

God is not a trend or a fashion.
He is not a hashtag or a tweet.
He is the creator of all things.
He is omnipotent, omniscient and everlasting.
To Him, sin is still sin and righteousness is still righteousness,
The wages of sin is still death and His gift is still life eternal.
His truths do not shift with public opinion polls. He does not require a majority vote.
God does not change. He is above all and over all.
He does not expect us to know his thoughts or motivations. He only asks us to seek Him.
He is sovereign, yet He gives us the right to choose whether to follow Him.
He is holy and just, yet he shows mercy and freely offers grace.
He has no need of anything, yet He desires a relationship with you.
This is God...

Isiah 41:13 - For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.