Sometimes we need to be emptied in order to be filled

Sometimes we have to be emptied of everything else in order to be filled with the good stuff.

Sometimes the room has to be emptied of clutter – like jealousy and bitterness and anger and judgment and disappointment and regret.

These things take up space and get in the way of experiencing the good things.

Sometimes the past takes up so much space that there’s no room for the future.

Past relationships or friends can continue to influence us, and our memory still is listening to them so we can’t hear the sound of God's voice.

Sometimes secrets that should be confessed are holding our memory in a prison of guilt, keeping those secrets from being confessed and being set free.

Heartache can take up an enormous amount of space.

It can grow over the years until there is no room left for joy or hope. In fact God's word says that hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it’s a tree of life.

How about judgment? If judgment is sitting on the throne then God's not even in the room.

Judgment is heavy and it brings the weight of condemnation. It not only condemns the recipient to being an emotional outcast, unable to have relationship with the one who judges; but it also condemns the one who judges with ostracizing their own self from their soul.

Sometimes the clutter of “me” makes no room for the love of “us.”

When we demand our rights, oftentimes little room is left for the other to be known and grow. Sometimes demanding takes up so much space that relationships start to suffocate from the strain.

There is only so much space, so much time, so much energy, only so much when we are focusing on our self, on our own resources. 

But when we allow God to do some spring cleaning of our soul, space, time and energy are freed up and increased.

Our soul suddenly becomes larger and free of distraction and our thinking becomes broader. Our ability to love and extend mercy and grace grows exponentially. As we give away mercy and grace tremendous healing happens and a wellspring of joy and hope and trust pours forth. 

We find out, firsthand, that God's mercy never ends, God's faithfulness is fresh every morning and there is a delicious freedom that permeates every action we take. 

Sometimes we have to be emptied of everything else in order to be filled with the good stuff!

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