Freedom In Letting Go

I am was one of those people who had the hardest time letting go.  From items I deemed sentimental to hurt and disappointment.  If someone hurt me, I held on to it. If I experienced pain, I held on to it.  If a relationship that I felt was important to me ended, I held on to it. For many, many years I was weighed down by the baggage I carried in my heart that I just couldn't let go of.  Not being able to let go invited bitterness, hatred and resentment to fester in my heart and caused me to not be able to excel in Christ.  For a long time, I couldn't hear God speaking to my heart because I'd crowded Him out with all the mess I allowed to take root.  I can imagine, all those times I cried God where are you?  He was probably saying I'm here, but because you've got all this stuff piled on top of me, you can't hear me.

It brings to mind this show I like to watch called Hoarders.  It depicts the lives of extreme hoarders, people who buy or collect things excessively.  The collecting is so bad that they have piles and piles of things in every space of their homes, so much so that they literally have to climb over stuff just to get from one room to the next.  Their beds, couches, stoves, floors, bathrooms, garages...every space, is compacted, all because they can't let go.  This causes their marriages to fall apart, they lose friends and their overall progression in life comes to a halt because they are so weighed down by all this stuff  they don't need, but can't get rid of.

This is much the case with many today.  There is so much packed in your heart and God is trying to manuever His way through it all.  So many are internal hoarders.   I was one, but no longer do I hold on to things that hold me down and keep me from growing in Christ.  By the end of the one hour show, the person decides to accept help and have their homes cleared of all the things they've accumulated through the years and, in doing so, they experience a freedom like never before and things begin to be restored in their life. There is such a freedom in letting go. But Keisha, you don't understand. You don't know what I've been through.  I can't let it go...I don't even know how to let it go.  Let me tell you, no one understands your hurt better than God and He's standing right there with open arms saying "Give it to me, my child. Let me free you from all your hurt, pain and disappointments." 

Gaining the ability to let go takes a lot of prayer, fasting and meditating on God's word.  It's a process and clearly does not happen in an hour, or overnight.  Become steadfast in your prayer time and sincerely cry out to God for help in letting go.  Ask God to free your heart of every person, situation or thing that holds you down and keeps you from moving forward along your path of purpose.  I promise, God will deliver you and you will experience such freedom.  Your heart will be free to love; free to live; free to serve; free to praise; free to worship; free to fulfill God's purpose for your life.  If you don't let go and allow God to heal your heart, you will find yourself stuck in the same place, while everyone around you seems to be moving forward.

Whether it's a relationship that just didn't work, hurt from a loved one, pain from the past, church hurt...let it go.  The New Living Translation of Hebrews 12:1 says "...strip off every weight that slows us down..."  Anything that hinders you from moving forward is a weight.  Today, I encourage you to strip it off.  Your place of freedom awaits you!

Til we meet again...

Live more...worry less...laugh often!

Keisha