When I take my dogs for a walk, Murphy will trot on ahead with a bold and cocky confidence, completely unperturbed if I am close by or not. Pacino on the other hand will keep looking back to see if I am behind him. If I stop to talk to someone, Pacino stops too. If I sit down on a park bench, Pacino comes to sit near me. He lacks all the confidence that Murphy has in bucketloads! Simply put, Pacino only feels safe when he can see I am around and Murphy’s security comes from knowing that I will be there all the time whether he’s checking or not.

I think I have always had a bit of a Murphy in me. When I was a lot younger and going through my rebellious stage, there always seemed to be this physical Presence at my right shoulder. I could be in the most ungodly places and that sense was there regardless.

What made me so confident that God was always with me was sometimes the very same thing that allowed me to strut on ahead as my dog does without feeling the need to look back and check that I wasn’t alone. Perhaps a bit of a Pacino attitude would have served me better?

I have to wonder why He never gave up on me and left me to my own devices. The obvious choice for Him would surely have been to focus His grace on a much more deserving person. And yet, here I am today, still so completely aware of Him but now doing my best daily to make sure He is at the center of it all.

If I think about it, it’s almost as if God had a hook in the scruff of my neck. Each time I started to sink, He would pull the rope attached to the hook and up I’d come! There were and still are so many instances that it’s surprising I don’t have whiplash!

How often do we take detours in panic -stricken moments even as we pray for Him to intervene? How often do we know the path to take but choose instead the one where we are in control. Where our feet and our minds take us on a trip so far from where God has told us to go only to realise our mistake way down the road, that getting back takes even longer than the journey took to get there. Its only then that we see that our strength, our wisdom and our own methods of fixing things only served to make us more desperate, more anxious and sent us right up that crocodile filled creek without a paddle or even a canoe!

I really want you to hear this truth today: God is for YOU! His arm is NOT too short to save you no matter how far down the path you’ve gone. His ear is STILL open to your cries for help. His Spirit is willing and able to rescue you completely. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you hold all the keys to wisdom and knowledge. You may not fully understand your situation, condition, or circumstances. What you know is like those pictures of the tips of icebergs. It is just a small little peak above the surface of the water. What you can’t see is the massive mountain underneath of which you know nothing.

Surrender to the One who knows it all is the only way to have that peace and those answers that you crave. Today is a perfect day to hand over the title deeds to your future and to fall back into those arms that encircle you. That’s where you will find rest for your soul and a lifting of every burden that has kept you fearful and small. As Elsa sings in Disney’s Frozen, LET IT GO!!

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
    I will advise you and watch over you.
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
    that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” Psalm 32:8-9

Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. Isaiah 59:1

You, like your ancestors before you, have turned away from my laws and have not kept them. Turn back to me, and I will turn to you. But you ask, ‘What must we do to turn back to you. Malachi 3:7

“God, all at once you turned on a floodlight for me! You are the revelation-light in my darkness, and in your brightness I can see the path ahead. With you as my strength I can crush an enemy horde, advancing through every stronghold that stands in front of me. Yahweh, what a perfect God you are! All Yahweh’s promises have proven true. What a secure shelter for all those who turn to hide themselves in you, the wraparound God.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭TPT‬‬

I have a room outside my house that was previously used as a staff lounge. When it was no longer needed as that, it somehow turned into a storage space for everything that did not need to be keep inside the house. 

When I moved my mom out of her flat I housed all her stuff in that room. When we bought large items that came in even larger boxes, those boxes went into the storeroom. Old garden equipment gets stored there, files that are no longer needed along with discarded tools, books and old photo albums have been thrown in there as well. Then there’s the boxes and boxes of statements and documents that should have been thrown away years ago. There’s even some furniture that is no longer needed or that has been saved from my mom’s old flat.

Sometimes my heart feels a bit like that untidy and cluttered room. There are treasures that are no longer treasured, boxes that hold memories, grudges and unresolved issues as well as memorabilia of days gone by that are just sitting there covered in dust but no longer needed. Then there are the items that used to have a special place but have since been replaced by newer or more beautiful ones. Amongst all this paraphernalia are a few insecurities that I’ve harbored deep down inside when words that were meant as jokes hit their target and caused a lasting wound. These had nowhere to go and so they too got thrown into the storeroom. It’s been allowed to become a place of chaos, confusion and lingering reminders.

Every few months I get a sudden urge to purge. I will get stuck in a room or closet and get rid of piles and piles of unused stuff. I always feel so refreshed and empowered when I see the newly emptied space!

I’ve realised that what I need is a quiet, calm, orderly and peaceful space around me both physically and mentally but also spiritually.

What is piled up in your heart that prevents the free flow of peace?

When I take a ‘reality check’ walk through my heart and mind, I find there is a lot there that needs to be let go of and thrown out.

The “boxes“ that held feelings are being preserved way after the incident that caused them has passed. Right now those boxes take up space that could be freed up.

The old furniture could be restored and lovingly passed on to someone else in need – perhaps kindness and love to someone who is lonely and hurting?

What about the memorabilia that sits on shelves? What about if we could take it down, wipe it off, indulge it one more time and then let it go?

There is so much stuff that I get itchy just walking into that storeroom. When I sift through the storeroom of my heart I find it just as uncomfortable. There is way too much stuff being harbored there that no longer serves any purpose for me except for making me feel disheartened, sad, sometimes angry and often even regretful.

With January almost over now,  I think it’s time for a spring clean, an opportunity to allow God to fill those spaces with new thought patterns and a new peace. Perhaps I could even allow some space to remain open for new things He wants to place here.

What you use your heart space for will play a big role in how your year looks going forward. Filled up with yesterdays burdens or todays worries, it has the potential to steal your joy and cause your focus to be directed away from the many promises that God has spoken over you.

Grab a few mental cartons and begin to pack up wounds from the past along with the bitterness that has handcuffed you to yesterday, the New Years resolutions that have remained unfulfilled for decades and the regrets that have kept you small and ineffective.

Today is a day of new beginnings, clean open spaces and light burdens.

Once you’ve done the hard work, be sure to keep it clean! Don’t allow the same things back in that cluttered up the space in the first place – yes,even those unhealthy relationships that have stunted your growth and diminished your self worth.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:44-45 that if you cast out demons and leave the door open they will return to the cleaned space with many more in tow! Clutter invites more clutter…

Don’t forget to close the door as you take a last look at the boxes that you’ve filled up.

Lastly, look forward as step into the new wide open space you’ve created!

Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences. Proverbs 4:23

“He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Who are you behind your name? What do people learn about you shortly after an introduction?

If we attend a certain college, school, church or follow a certain sports club or organization its easy to build our identity on being a follower or member of one of the above. We use phrases like “ I’m a Man United supporter”, a “ XYZ School boy”, a “Harvard alumni” or whatever place or organization’s banner we place our name under. What we like and admire is not who we are!

None of this is wrong in any way and it unites us with like minded people who share the same passions or values.

When we make this entirely who we are though, it strips us of our individual identities that should not be based on what we like or admire but on what God put in us from the moment of conception. Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

God already decided before we showed up who and what we were to be. We however like to decide for ourselves what we are, what we will become and even who we feel like being depending on the day and the mood.

In Isaiah 64:8 we see that God moulded us according to His plan-“You, Lord, are our Father. We are nothing but clay, but you are the potter who moulded us.”

To be loyal to a place, team or group is nice and makes us feel a part of something. But it’s not who we are. A culture is not a personal identity. It’s rather something we resonate with or strive to be recognised as.

Being a part of a big church is something I’ve enjoyed for almost 21 years now. We are members of a big family that we gather with each Sunday. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. When one mourns, we all mourn. We belong to a large, imperfect but beautiful family of God followers.

If I went to church as a member but didn’t know God, it would be a pointless event. I go because of Him and because I first met Him and then joined this body of believers. If you go to a place of worship simply because of the people there I’m afraid you’ve missed the point. The object of worship is a daily one-on-one connection and not a once-a- week group meeting!

My identity is first one who follows Christ and then a member of my church -not the other way around! Church is one day in 7, relationship is 7 days out of 7.

A football team is not your identity. Neither is your place of education, worship, qualifications or even your nationality. So again I ask “Who are you?” Take time to find out what lies beneath the many coats you wear. Look for the hidden treasures inside your heart. Find what it is that makes you a unique individual.

When your identity is based on who you were created to be, it won’t matter when your favourite team loses a game because it won’t make you a loser. When you don’t get a job you hoped for based on the impressive names on your CV, you won’t be a failure and when you miss a week of church, it won’t make you a heathen!

You are a magnificent creation, created with good things in mind, great gifts and talents that cannot be stripped from you and do not depend on any outside influence! You-beautiful and unique YOU-were created to change your corner of the world with only the banner of “GODS SPECIAL ONE” over your head!

We all have a different perspective about the here and now.

For some it’s the struggle of a daily existence of pain and suffering, dire poverty or a relentless illness.

For others it’s the hope of the next good thing – what I will afford next year, the job I’ll have in 6 months, finishing my studies in the foreseeable future or an upcoming event that we look forward to.

For some there’s a sense of satisfaction or full enjoyment of the here and now- how much they have, fame and popularity, possessions, influence and admirers.

For some others it’s the dread of another day, another week and another year of a difficult situation, marriage or job- the endless daily battle they struggle to survive.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says we have been created with eternity in our hearts, an understanding that there is more.

There are those who look forward to the ‘more’ with a hope in their hearts and there are those who choose to ignore that this what we know right now is not the be all and end all. What’s here and now seems pretty good so why mess with it or question its longevity?

I remember when we were kids we used to love blowing soap bubbles outside and then trying to catch them. Inevitably these pretty bubbles popped as we touched them or even before. What was perfect and shiny became nothing before our eyes. Such are the beautiful shiny things in life – lovely and perfect until in the blink of an eye they are gone.

What lies beyond the stuff we carry in our perfect or severely flawed lives?

That for me is where the hope of an eternity is a reminder of how temporary our lives here are.

In the well known song by Queen”Who wants to live forever “ there’s a line that says “What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us?”

I was reminded a few days ago of the suffering my mom endured for the past 7 years.

For those 7 years it seemed like an eternity. Day in and day out she got weaker and more confused. Her physical and mental condition got so bad that that’s what we focused on. We forgot the beautiful and vibrant woman she was before and wondered if this would ever end.

And then suddenly it was over and we could reminisce about the good old days before Illness took over. What seemed like a lifetime of bad health at the time now seems like a blink of an eye. Her focus was always on her eternity. She didn’t live in terrible fear of what would happen here but looked past the worst possibilities to a glorious future that was promised to her.

Some worship the god of ME and some look to the God of forever.

Whoever is on your altar, tomorrow is a sure thing. Make sure your worship is wisely directed. After all your future depends on it!

“I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. All creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love, So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love.”

Romans 8:18, 21, 35, 38 TPT

“He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 GNT