There is always a cleanup before there is a build up!

I am famous for always wanting to organize my garage, but never getting it done! Here is why; there is such a major cleanup before you can actually organize it. I get discouraged by the huge mess before I can actually even get to the work of organizing it the way I want it. I believe a lot of you can relate to that. Yours may be a room downstairs, or a closet, but the dynamic is the same, we must clean up before we build up.

In most cases we are not beginning with a blank slate, or a fresh room. We have to deal with whatever is already in the room!

In the story we began yesterday, where Nehemiah is rebuilding Jerusalem's walls, they run into the very same problem! Take a look at this verse.

"Then the people of Judah began to complain,"The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. (sounds like my garage) We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves."

Nehemiah 4:10 NLT

Here are the questions that come to me whenever I begin on my garage. What am I going to do with this? Where am I going to put this? Do I want to keep this? Each of those questions lower my energy for the project at hand because I don't have such simple clear answers. In fact, the thing that uses my energy the most, is the decision-making process as I clean, rather than the actual physical labour of cleaning!

Partnering with God to clean up the rubble of our life is an ongoing draining experience, even though the end result is so desired. And the energy doesn't replenish itself until we are closer to the desired result. That is why it will take endurance and a few other things that we will continue to talk about!

At the end of verse 10 it says,

"We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves."

When we realize that, it is the beginning of a new day! By the way, that is why so much of what he has written for us in the scriptures are phrases like this: I will be with you, I will watch over you, cast your burdens on me, my help comes from the Lord, I will guide you, I will advise you! These phrases are endless in the scriptures.

If you are doing the hard work of cleaning up before building up, you don't have to do it yourself. As a capper today, hear this verse. Psalm 32:7-8 NLT

"For you are my hiding place, you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. The Lord says. I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."