“It’s hard to be clear about who you are when you are carrying around a bunch of baggage from the past.
I’ve learned to let go and move more quickly into the next place.”
Angelina Jolie
“Sell your house.” I felt God say to me one morning.
“What?!” I thought to myself, I must be hearing wrong.
“Allow your husband to sell the house.” He said again.
I had no intention of selling the house. We had never been late in paying the mortgage, even though it was a struggle to come up with it every month.
“Why would you tell me to sell what we worked so hard to build from the ground up?” I asked God.
Silence.
Five years earlier, we had torn down our home to build a brand new one, the one we had dreamed of for so long. It was a very stressful ordeal; we’d lived in a cramped camper with our three kids, all under the age of ten, for eight months, as well as being the general contractor on the job.
But the result was an absolutely gorgeous home with two huge great rooms and a beautiful nine foot kitchen island.
I loved my house and now I was being asked to give up the very thing I worked so hard to build.
Maybe this was a test from God – like an Abraham and Isaac thing. I had it in my mind that if I said, ‘yes,’ to God and offered to sell, at the last minute the lamb would appear in the bush and ‘ta-da’ – I would have my house back.
But that was not the case.
I prayed and prayed, like I have never prayed before!
I laid my body against the walls of the house and prayed. I even laid upon my kitchen island and prayed.
My concern was losing my kids’ inheritance and have nothing to give them later in life.
But to be honest, this was only half true. This house meant so much to me.
It was perfect.
It was mine.
I endured a full year of prospective buyers walking through my house telling me everything that was wrong with my beautiful home and why they did not want to buy it.
There was even this one jerk who had the audacity to write a mean letter, explaining why we should sell it to him for half the asking price! Seriously?
Some investors offered us a very shady deal that we did not take. A year later those same investors came back and offered us a traditional deal that we accepted. Their intent was to flip the house at a later date. This only made me angrier at the situation.
The house was gone. No last minute rescue. No lamb.
I was devastated.
Years of heartbreak found us living in a series of broken down rental houses. I finally decided to sell some of the furniture I had been hanging to. One by one, as the pieces sold, I began to feel lighter.
In the meantime, the investors could not seem to sell the house, this went on for a year.
“Your prayers are embedded into the very fiber of that house – that is why the investors cannot sell it.” I felt God say to me one day.
I did a ‘happy dance’ that lasted for twenty minutes.
My prayers had worked!
My prayers were powerful!
Two weeks later God came to me and said, “Your prayers are embedded into the very fiber of the house and that is why the investors cannot sell the house.”
“I know. Isn’t that great, God?” I gleamed with joy.
No response.
“Oh, no” I thought. “Maybe this is not a good thing.”
“Are you willing to release your prayers from the house and let it go?” I felt God say.
“What about my kids’ inheritance?” I blurted out.
“Do you trust me with your kids’ inheritance?” The Lord shot right back at me.
I paused for a minute.
“Okay, God. I will trust you with my kids’ inheritance.”
“I release the house,” I said quickly before I could change my mind.
“Good.” He said as if He was dusting off His hands ready for the next thing.
“Your prayers tethered you to the house, and you cannot take the house with you into this next season I have for you.”
Since that Divine conversation, I have let go of a lot of the decor and furniture associated with that house. I feel lighter now and ready to enter into this next season that God has for me.
I have an excitement and an anticipation like never before.
He is a merciful God and let me come to this place when the timing was just right. He did not just rip it out of my hand, but eased me into the new thing we was doing.
Sometimes, we have to let go of things that may be near and dear to us in order to enter this new season.
Are you still clinging to that thing you cannot take with you into this next season God has for you?
Is it a relationship, a job, or even a neutral object that seems harmless like a house?
What has you emotional bound?
You will need to let go and have both hands free, in order to fully grasp the next thing God has for you.
Today ask God if there is anything that you are tethered to that you need to let go of in order to come into this next season He has for you.
“But forget all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.”
Isaiah 43:18 NLT
One fateful decision landed me smack in the middle of my own Wilderness…
Though I was obeying God’s voice, I spent the next several years “walking on water,” even though it felt more like I was treading water. A Journey Out of the Wilderness is for people going through a rough time—a Wilderness experience—where you feel as though you are “down for the count” and ready to give up. Wilderness Wanderers feel as though they are doing laps around the mountain, passing the same tree over and over again wondering, “Will this never end?” However, being in the Wilderness will be one of the most transformational times of your life.
Such a profound and timely message. Thank you.