Organizing the Inside – Day 234 Is The Past Holding You Back?

April 24, 2012 at 2:30 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Inspiration, Organizing, Purpose, Relationship, Simplicity, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Christianity, Women

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 the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)

Clutter and disorganization, an outward manifestation of an inward condition.
Have you ever taken a closet inventory and wanted to scream? Not your spiritual closet, let’s not go that deep just yet. I’m talking about your clothes closet. While helping a client recently, I could see how she felt tied to her past. The longer we worked on getting her closet organized, the more I came to realize that she was deeply attached to her stuff. God revealed to me that the reason for her sadness was due to her recent downsizing. She hadn’t fully accepted that her new home was not as grand and spacious as before. She seemed desperate to go back to what she felt was better times. I saw in her the same common denominator among many who have too much stuff.  She couldn’t get excited about her new closet, because she was stuck trying to hold on to the past. So it is with many Christian women who can’t get excited about what God is doing right now and in the future; they are too consumed with the past.

God wants us to put our stuff in proper perspective.
Realize that having emotional attachments to things is not what God intended. Once you lose your focus, the pursuit of things often becomes the “why” behind what you do. Even those things that have sentimental value sometimes keep us holding on to the past. Consider the real reason you have old greeting cards, clothes that you no longer can wear, or that special something that you absolutely refuse to let go of. Challenge yourself to put your stuff in its proper place. Clutter can keep you from achieving God’s righteous purpose. Whether your clutter is physical, mental or spiritual God has called us to live a life of simplicity. Clutter can hold you back from reaching your goals. Old relationships, memories and things can keep you from being productive. God wants your life to be free from bondage, of any kind. Find ways to embrace something new; it begins when you let go of the past.

If you are stuck, here’s a list of my favorite
21 Fearless Questions Every Christian Woman Must Ask Herself.

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