Tidy Up Before Moving Forward

Excerpt from THE WIDOW’S MIGHT by Jan Thompson –

“In a conversation I had with God today, I let Him know that I am ready for something exciting.  I am ready to have something to laugh about; and I am ready to consider all kinds of possibilities in my life.

As I was talking to God while stomping out 3.5 miles on my treadmill, He interrupted me and told me some things.  But, before you think I am getting really weird on you, I remind you that I am in the practice of talking to myself as if it were God speaking.  We have had a relationship since I was nine and I know Him well enough to usually know what He would say about things, especially since I am familiar with His Word.  It works for me and I usually receive some real insight in the exercise.

My Father, who art in Heaven, said to me, ‘Jan, you know that you are to follow Me and sometimes you try to get ahead of Me.  Yes, you are healing very well, but before you are ready to go very far, I would suggest you get your house in order.  Look around you; your back porch is a wreck, your closet is a disaster, your front fence is still unpainted and it wouldn’t hurt you to dust now and then.  You are quite out of practice of maintaining any semblance of order.  How on earth could you maintain more responsibility than you already have?  If I have something wonderful in store for you, do you really think you are prepared to experience it fully?

Tidy your life; restore order to your surroundings.  You could use a man in your life, his name is Mr. Clean.  So, clean up your act, be the woman you are supposed to be again, and then get back to me.  Be patient.  I don’t know how you know it is day or night looking out those dirty windows.  When you restore order to your home, you will be amazed at how things fall into place in other areas.  When you clean your windows, you will see more clearly what is out there.

Before we move on, let’s move some of the old stuff out.  Why in the world are you keeping Lee’s underwear?  No one else is going to wear them.  Wear his socks to bed if you like, use his hankies, but put his jock strap in the trash.  Clean out the debris of your life.‘

When I finished my walk, I emptied a drawer.  It’s a start.  I want to follow; getting ahead of myself or my Lord could set my healing back immeasurably.  I just put those shorts in a bag and threw them on the back porch.  Not really, but it looks like that’s what I have been doing for almost a year now.  I am getting ready for something wonderful, but in the doing of it, I am getting myself back and that’s a pretty good relationship in itself.”