Reluctant, Overwhelmed, Afraid-Have Peace

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Why is it taking the first step is always the hardest? I recently had a day off and started contemplating what I was going to do with this newly found time.  It didn’t take long and I found myself creating a “to do” list. It looked like this:

-dishes   -laundry   -vacuum  -dust  -mop kitchen  -clean bathroom

I’m not sure what that says about me, or the state of my house, that my free time needs to be spent cleaning. I’ll save that for another blog.

Anyway, I woke up the next morning list in hand, only to find myself reluctant to get started. I was distracted by morning TV, email, Facebook, kids-you get the idea. The morning was slipping by and I started getting afraid I wouldn’t get anything done. The list was long and overwhelming and I couldn’t get started.

It’s the same when we clean our inner house. We look over our lives and overwhelmed by the “to do” list and do nothing. We feel the clutter in our hearts and we don’t know where to start.  We’ve been doing nothing all these years what’s one more day?  Right? No, it’s not right.  God wants to restore your heart now.  When our heart is restored so is our relationship with God, our spouse or significant other, family and friends. John the Baptist says in Matthew 3:

11-12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (MSG)

Who wants to wait when Jesus offers us so much. So instead of making a long list, pick one area, one relationship, one wound, one bad habit and begin cleaning there.

1) Start praying about it.

2) God will show you what to do-and if it makes you uncomfortable-you are probably on the right track. Forgive someone, forgive yourself, ask God to forgive you, begin to change a negative attitude or habit.

3) As you move through this ask God to clean your heart of all of the residue.

He will do it. I know it seems to easy. Start with baby steps. You will be amazed at how good you feel. Once you experience cleaning in one area, you will want more. Once I vacuumed the living room, I suddenly needed to dust because a clean house brings peace to my heart. Start small and feeling reluctant, overwhelmed or afraid will diminish.  God wants this for you.  So, what one area are you going to start cleaning?  Is there an area you are stuck in? Let’s work together to move forward.

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