I’ve had an invasion of moths in my flat, hiding away in dark corners and eating away at any clothes they can find. So yesterday my job was to sort through every cupboard and get rid of no longer needed clothes, wash and bag everything left and spray out the cupboards with repellent. To add to this sorting job I was given 3 huge bags of someone else’s clothes, discarded from their sort out, with the kind thought that they may be useful for me.

I felt weighed down by the tonne of stuff I’d been given and my already full wardrobes and drawers. I felt like throwing it all out, so I ruthlessly went through everything piece by piece, keeping only that which I knew I was currently using.

As I worked though my drawers I noticed white flecks on some old jumpers and trousers in drawers. It didn’t look like moth holes. As I worked further through the drawer this increased until I realised to my horror that this was mould!

The combination of damp in my flat along with not wearing these clothes for so long had left them to literally rot away. The musty, stale smell now filled the room and I couldn’t wait to bag them up and throw them out. EVERY drawer had mould in and as I unfolded clothes, there it would be, in creases and folds. It was disgusting, smelly and made my stomach churn.

There were clothes I’d saved, just in case I needed them, clothes I’d kept for the children for when they might grow into them and clothes that, frankly, I’d forgotten all about because I had so much of everything I never got past the first row of clothes.

And suddenly I was struck by something the Lord was saying and I knew he was using this situation as a picture for other aspects of life.

‘I give you all you need. You don’t need to chase after filling your life with all that clutters it, hoarding and storing - it all just weighs you down and turns rotten.’

Images filled my head of the Israelites in the desert trying to store extra manna, when God said he’d provide for what they needed each day. Those who collected extra found by the next day that it stank and had maggots eating through it as it rotted away.

Then the verse from Mathew 6:19 came to me:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

God loves and cares for us better than we can ourselves. He WILL provide for our needs as we submit our lives to him. Let's not clutter and fill our lives to bursting point so that we are weighed down with things that will all eventually decay away.

There may be things in your life you need to let go of, things you've hung on to for too long and now things are turning sour or mouldy, or you've just got no more room to move in freedom. It's not just physical things, but things going on in our heart that may need to be dropped . If we hold on to things in our lives that we no longer need, things that we need to let go of, they too can turn stinking and rotten in the end or squeeze and weigh us down. As you let go of these things and make space to be able to move again, trust Him - he WILL give you all you need in its place.

Maybe it’s time for a clear out. .

...to read part 2 of this story go to 'Angel Encounters, Gifts and a Father of fun' http://godansweredme.com/node/123

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