Are you a hoarder?

Are you a hoarder? Because I sure am. I have a real problem with holding on to EVERY little thing! Anytime I try to go through things to get rid of stuff I find myself saying over and over, "but, what if ...." and then I wind up keeping it all. I have boxes of things I haven't seen or used in YEARS, so what am I holding on to it for? "what if ..."

Did you know that you can be a people hoarder too? Holding on to people that only bring you down, because you are too afraid to let them go just in case you need them someday. Unfortunately, I've fallen prey to this as well; however, I think I am slowly getting better about it.

At the Women of Faith conference, one of the speakers, Dr. Henry Cloud, had something to say about this. I felt it applied so much to my life, and after spending some time thinking about it, I want to share it with you too:

We are afraid that the world (read: God) will not provide for us, the things that we need, on the day that we need them. So, we hoard. We hold on to things thinking we may need them someday even though they are of no use to us today. We hold on to people because we are too afraid to let go; too afraid that when we need someone, no one will be there. But sometimes we need to let those things go because they are only weighing us down. As hard as it may seem to let go of things or people in our lives, if they aren't adding to our current life, they aren't worth holding on to. And on the day that we need them? God will provide. That's what He does; He provides.

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart

Matthew 7:7

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.

God has always provided for me what I needed in the past. I have no doubt that certain people have been placed in my life on certain occasions, by God, to help me get through times that are tough. And, He has always blessed me with the means to get the "stuff" I needed when it was necessary. If He has always provided for me in the past, why wouldn't I believe He will continue to provide for me in the future?

I think it's our job to prune away what is unnecessary, be it people or things, to leave room for God to provide for us at the appropriate times. As I stated before, I am a hoarder ... but, I don't want to be ... there's no reason for it. My goal over the next few months is to rid myself of everything unnecessary in my life. All the things that fill up space, clutter my life, or drag me down are going out the window. I'm going to get my life cleaned up a bit. It scares me a little ... but if it wasn't scary, then it wouldn't be worthwhile ... and I honestly believe that.