Hiding Place.....

When I clean house I am a 'stuffer', which translates to:

I go around the house picking things up and stuffing them into places nobody can see. Closets, drawers, garbage cans, cabinets, baskets, boxes, etc. As long as it is out of sight!

And....it works! People stop to visit and, by all outwardly appearance, my house is clean and tidy with nothing out of place. However, lurking in places not seen by most eyes are mounds of junk that I am content to leave there until that day comes when I open the closet and can't shut the door again. Suddenly, all of my junk is exposed. No amount of stuffing will do....it's just full! Then, I am faced with a choice......clean it out completely or take just enough out to allow me to shut the door once more. Today I am faced with that choice again....only.....it's not about junk.

God has shown me that I clean my soul the way I clean house. I am a 'stuffer'. I stuff all my emotions and feelings into places hidden away from most eyes.....including my own. However, there is no closet, basket, trash can, drawer, or cabinet that can conceal me from Him! And....today, He has flung the closet door open and all my 'junk' is sitting in the open....completely exposed. The biggest part of me wants to slam the door shut and tell Him not to do that again. Only, I know Him and if I tell Him not to do it again.....He won't. And, I will be where I am right now.......which isn't a great place.

So, I have decided to clean house......completely. I will open every cabinet, closet, drawer, basket, nook, and cranny within my soul and offer all my fears, doubts, insecurities, hopes, and dreams to Him--where they should have been all along--and allow Him to be my only Hiding Place.

"You are my hiding place;

you will protect me from trouble and surround me

with songs of deliverance"

- Psalm 32:7