Learning what to lay down in the presence of God.

Psalm 55:22 (CSB)
“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

When I imagine my perfect life, I imagine a four bedroom home with three bathrooms, neighbors that bake sourdough bread every Sunday, and leave a loaf on my doorstep, a God-fearing husband, two kids, and a garage. Sundays will be slow and Jesus-filled. Saturdays will be for adventures. The love in the home will seep from the walls, so much so that when people walk in, they ask what is different. And nothing is different. Jesus is there.

But for right now, I don’t have any of that. I am far from it, actually. 

In this season, I feel like God is stretching me in ways I wouldn’t have chosen for myself. I joined a discipleship class at my church called Equip, and we’ve been walking through Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I was promised it would change my life; it didn’t. But something stuck.

The idea of a ‘garage.’

The workbook framed it like this: God is already aware of what He intends to do with your life. Prayer is often less about convincing Him and more about learning to desire what aligns with Him.

I haven’t stopped thinking about this.

My life, right now, feels like a garage packed floor to ceiling. Boxes labeled childhood wounds. Abandonment. Rejection. The need for approval. Anger I never fully unpacked. Things I’ve carried so long I stopped noticing their weight. Lord, how can you trust me with everything in Your garage if my current garage is so full?

And yet God invites me to bring it all into the light: “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” (Psalm 55:22 CSB). So I bring it. Not unpacked. Not organized. Just as it is.

Because I believe that God is doing something in me that I do not yet have the capacity to fully understand. I believe He is clearing space to prepare me for what I cannot yet carry.

It is time for a spiritual spring cleaning. Not by my own strength, by by His invitation.

Jesus, start opening the boxes.

reflection questions

• What might it look like to let God shape you in this season, even when I don’t fully understand what He is doing? 
• What does your spiritual spring cleaning look like to you?