Devotions with Pastor Fran Ruecker

What in the world was I thinking??? Why didn’t someone tell me how hard it was to pack up a house that you have lived in for 45 years and move to a new location? I am finding that change is hard no matter how big or how small that change may be. The trouble with me is I start the “what if” games in my mind. What if this and what if that and if I do this then what about that????

I know in my heart that God has orchestrated all of this and He has all the “what if’s” figured out. I just have to lean hard on Him so that my anxiety level doesn’t get out of hand! Whew!

I listed my house on Monday and it went on the market on Tuesday. Had someone come look at it on Tuesday eveningand they made a full price offer on Wednesday morning! I was able to purchase a house from a lady in Downs, that’s where I will be moving to, even before it hit the market for a very low price. So I have no doubt that God has all this planned out. I just have to hang on as I fly through the doors He has opened!

Then I look around and there are boxes and boxes of “stuff” I haven’t touched in years! It is very mind boggling. As I have been going through things that have been in storage for years I have once again realized how much “stuff” we accumulate and stuff in boxes when we don’t know what else to do with it. Some stuff that are precious memories and some is just plain stuff!

As I think about this I can relate it to our spiritual walk. How many times do we just stuff things into areas of our heart that is just plain stuff because we really didn’t want to deal with it at the time? Hard feelings, hurts, bad experiences, anger, jealousy, precious memories, and the list goes on. You fill in the blanks! I really believe we all need to clean the “closets” of our heart and throw away any trash that doesn’t belong there, any hard feelings that are still hurting relationships, and any un-forgiveness that is hindering our spiritual growth. Maybe we need to carefully box up the precious memories and the precious moments that need to be saved and throw all the rest away! Some of the boxes in my store room have been there for years and I had forgotten what was even in them.

Sometimes it’s the same with our hearts! We have hard feelings towards someone or are angry at someone and we have forgotten why we are even angry or what happened to hurt the relationship. Sometimes it causes us to relive things and the “what if’s “start all over again! Going through the boxes can invoke feelings that come with stirring up old memories and some of those things I just tossed in the trash! Figured I hadn’t read those journals for 20 years so why stir up all those hurtful or dumb feelings now! So I just put them through the shredder without even opening them up! And you know it actually felt good! It was a part of my hurtful past that was under the blood of Jesus and because of that I could actually finally be rid of any old feelings that I forgot I had.

Perhaps maybe you have some of those same feelings and hurtful memories that you need to put through the shredder! All I know is that it has felt so good to finally be rid of all the junk and be able to declutter my life as I cleaned out my storeroom. It also gave me time to reflect on how good God has been to me over the years! And I was also able to praise Him for what He is doing in my life now and for the many doors He has opened and is going to open for me to minister in my new location. But best of all I can move without all the “stuff” that has been cluttering my life for years!
Blessings,
Pastor Fran