Thursday, February 6th, 2025
Our household has taken on a daunting task, better organizing our kids’ rooms, including the closets. We purchased our current house while I was pregnant with our second blessing. We then added on to both ends of the house while also welcoming blessing number three and four in a span of four years. Needless to say, child rearing became the priority and finding landing places for all of our stuff became a secondary focus. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed with projects like this. I wish it could go from slightly unorganized to neat as a pin without the “incredibly messy” part in between.
As I was deep in a closet overhaul a few days ago I felt heavy in my spirit that this project is a reflection of my spiritual walk. For years of my life I tried to deal with various pains and traumas by shoving it in a “closet”. I was unable to bear the emotions of that event and I hoped that I never had to face it again. A friend once told me that what happens in the natural is a reflection of what is happening in the spiritual. Well, as we embark on a journey to clean out our physical closets God is gently prompting me to clean out my spiritual closets as well.
God keeps bringing a scripture to my mind as I trudge through this process. It’s in 2 Kings 6:5-7:
5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”
6 So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. 7 Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
The ax head in my life are the parts of my soul that I gave away carelessly and/or hurts and pains that I tried to permanently bury. It is impossible to recover these things from the bottom of the water on my own. I need God to show me where to throw the stick so that He can bring the iron to the surface.
In my case I think there are quite a few ax heads down there. It’s a good time to learn patience. Just like an organization project needs time and process, my healing needs time and process. We have to come to a place where we allow God to bring out all the messiness so He can heal every part of it. There is no sense to just deal with some of it, because somewhere down the road if we want to walk in complete wholeness, we will have to recover the rest of that ax head.
Final Thoughts…
Life will get messy. Closets will get messy. Relationships will get messy. The good news is that we know the One that can help us clean up our messes. He can bring to the surface that which lurks in the darkness. It may be uncomfortable at first, but His healing oil nourishes our spirit and soul in a way that nothing else can. His unconditional love overcomes all the shame and pain we could ever face. He doesn’t just want to bring the ax head to the surface, He wants to heal the scars that it left and make something beautiful out of it.