This weekend we had the amazing opportunity for ALL 29 of the women on M Squad to come together in one crazy house here in Cyprus… this is not a World Race norm… this was the Lord showing out big time and spoiling us. While there, one of our leaders, Laura, shared out of Haggai and reminded us how important is it to tidy up the house we invite the Lord into. Are there boxes of junk you have shoved to the side or hid in a closet that maybe it is time to get rid of? She asked us to close our eyes and pray that the Lord would reveal to us the things He wants to clean out that we have been holding on to… and man was it an exciting ride.
The house he showed me was a beautiful fixer upper with a big room that had floor to celling windows connected to a porch with a beautiful view. The room was full! There was no room. Old furniture and boxes of junk were piled up, it was hard to differentiate between the two. I said “Ok, lets load it up and take it to the dump! I’m ready to get rid of it!” I felt him tell me no, I was confused.
“Why haven’t you put these things out on the curb? Why do you need to take it to the dump? You are afraid to show people the things you have been holding onto”. Ouch.
“Besides, we don’t need to load it ALL up… look at some of this furniture! It’s beautiful! We could redo it together and make it even better than before.” He seems much more excited about this than I do. Refinishing furniture is fun, but it’s hard and messy. In the end it creates unique beautiful pieces that I have loved having in my physical home why wouldn’t I want the same thing in the place me and Jesus hang out?
I opened my eyes and was content. We had a plan. Me and Jesus are going to put in some work together and get our house in tip top shape.
There was an overflowing shoe rack by the front door in our physical house that kept catching my attention I felt him whisper “That is what your front door will look like! Once we’ve cleaned out you will have so much more room to invite people in!” I closed my eyes and said a prayer of thanks. He knows how much it means to me to create welcoming places to invite people into. It sounds silly… but to me when people take their shoes off it means they feel welcome and at home.
As soon as I closed my eyes I saw a HUGE bonfire with tons of people around. He told me “Before, you were afraid to sit these boxes of junk out by the curb because people would see the things you had been hiding… when we’re done in this room you are going to invite people to come around you and celebrate the fact that you are free from these things!! Perhaps they’ll bring their own junk and you can burn it all together.”
Man oh man. What a promise. I’m not 100% sure what all the junk is just yet and cleaning it out probably won’t be easy; but, after seeing the party that happens at the end I have something to look forward to.
You’re all invited! Bring Your Own Junk. Leave your shoes at the door.
