Spring Cleaning

I hope I didn't get all of your expectations up and trick you into thinking you were going to be reading a great and informative post about the perfect Spring Cleaning schedule!Because you know what? Just between you and me.....

We don't do Spring Cleaning around here!

And we're not fortunate enough to have Pledge and Tide and Simple Green and OxyClean sponsoring my blog and gifting me with free cleaning products and accessories for the rest of my natural born life!

Sorry to burst your bubble!

What I really want to talk about today is the Bible Study I'm doing with the ladies from my church.  We have different "circles", and the circle I chose to join is called the Mary Martha circle.  There were different circles that I could have joined, but I chose the Mary Martha circle because some dear friends at our new church invited me.  Each circle at my church has a different theme and each takes kitchen duties for a month to "host" our Coffee Hour after the late service. 

Anyway, this is the second study I've done with the group.  The first study was Beth Moore's Esther study.  It was amazing.  I didn't really know much about Beth Moore before this study. 

Hey, quit your snickering! I lead a sheltered life, alright??

Now then.

The new study we just started is called "Me, Myself and Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild.  Again, I had never heard of her prior to this study.  Apparently she's someone of some merit and has a ministry that I knew nothing about.

Let me tell you, she's annointed by God to teach women what they really need to learn! The study I'm doing is all about our "thought closet" and really being aware of our self-talk and ultimately, cleaning out our thought closets.

I have been loving this study. 

I have needed this study in a major way.  You see, I have spent the last 35 years living with "labels" stuck on myself that just are not true, and it has taken me 35 years to see that!!

Jennifer's study has been so revolutionary in my life the past two weeks.  I had NO idea about how destructive and damaging my thought life was, and what it had done to me over the course of so many, many years. 

Ladies, I am now ready to give my thought closet a major Spring Cleaning!!

It's been hard and good and humbling and revolting and eye-opening and impacting for me the past two weeks to realize that I've had wrong assumptions about God! I just had no idea.  Jennifer uses a massive amount of Scripture in her study, and it's something that I really love.  This week, she used the example of the master who gave each of his servants a different number of talents when he went away, and each of the servants did something different with their talents.  I learned that I was like the last servant who buried his talent,and then when the master came back and he had to show what he had done with his talent, he said to the master, "I knew you to be a hard, cruel master......" God opened my eyes to see that I had been harboring untrue and wrong assumptions about Him!

Another thing that has really set me back on my heels is to realize and learn about the Voice of Truth, which is really Jesus Christ speaking to me.  I was hearing many other "voices" every day, but I had NO idea that I needed to choose to listen to the Voice of Truth, which is what my Heavenly Father says about me and to me! Wow.  And I love the song by Casting Crowns called "The Voice of Truth".  It's one of my favorite songs!

The last thing that has impacted me deeply is that I am basically blaspheming God when I tear myself down and bite myself with my poisoning words that I say to myself and the untrue labels I wear that others have stuck on me.  They become my labels because I allowed them to stick! I'm basically questioning God's sovereignty when I say to Him that I'm worthless, stupid, ugly, blah blah BLAH......and that's why it is so important to listen when He talks about me in His word!

It's time for me to clean out the far reaches of my dusty, dirty, overcrowded thought closet so I can make room for the thoughts and words HE has for me! It's time I make a decision every day to tune my inner ear to His voice and not waver from listening to it.  He's given me the strength to do this so far.  And the interesting thing is, the more I clean out, the more He replaces the old junk with beautiful, radiant confidence and joy and the more I feel excited to think that I can now embrace fully what He has for me down this road! I can really begin to be who He wants me to be more effectively and more fully!

So, my question to you is this: What does YOUR "thought closet" look like? Is it time for a good Spring Cleaning in your closet??