Soul H2O Devotion

Is It Time To Unpack Your Suitcase?

The pandemic is prayerfully coming to a close and the hope of travel is filling my thoughts!

Overstuffed Suitcases

Right before the first lockdowns hit, I was supposed to leave for a mission’s trip to Kenya and had my bags packed in preparation. My two bags of humanitarian supplies were crammed as full as I could get them. Since I was bringing summer clothes and we were in the dead of winter here in Canada my personal suitcase was packed and over-stuffed already.

I cried when I unpacked my personal suitcase.

I’d left it sitting there packed for a while but then had to face the fact that we weren’t going for a long time as the “two-weeks of lockdown” turned into months. It took our team even longer to come to the decision that we should unpack our humanitarian bags and give the items away because some of the items had ‘best-before’ dates on them and as a result of the pandemic, there were needs in Canada we felt called to meet.

The Inner Struggle

Struggling to unpack your suitcase because of a missed opportunity is rough but unpacking the baggage from past hurts will be the most difficult, yet most liberating thing you’ll ever do.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].
Ephesians 4:31 AMP

Put Away

After my divorce, I was determined to ‘put away’ as Paul is describing here, all of the unhealthy, unholy, damaging, emotional baggage I had let into the suitcase of my heart… and trust me, it was jam-packed like my Kenya suitcases, pretty much with every article mentioned in this verse. I cry each time I unpack another ‘item’ from my loaded luggage and those tears help to expel the toxicity in my soul.

This verse in Ephesians makes it really clear what emotional baggage can look like but it’s not a complete list. You can focus on the behaviors and try to change those but that doesn’t seem to produce lasting change. It’s the hard work of pulling out the heart issues that trigger your behaviour that will yield the freedom you desire. The exciting news is that the hard work for you is only in recognizing and admitting these issues in your life, and the easy work happens when you let Christ in to unpack your suitcase. He does the heavy lifting!

Is it time to unpack your suitcase? Invite Christ in today and let Him bring healing to your heart as you partner with Him for freedom’s sake!

Prayer

Father… I’m so thankful that You’re helping me to recognize the sin in my suitcase. I’m going to shift my focus from the things I do, to the things I believe and let stay in my heart. Help me to recognize the article in my suitcase you’re wanting to take out right now. I’m on board to get rid of whatever needs to go and with your grace, I will be free! In Jesus Name…Amen

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Verses to help fill up your well.

1. Ephesians 4:31
2. Colossians 3:8
3. Colossians 3:19
4. 1 Peter 2:1

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Oh Canada | EP #72

Oh Canada is my working out of mixed emotions on this Canada Day week. Find out the good and bad of our nation’s founding on the Soul H2O Radio & Podcast Show Episode #72. You can find the Show Notes at http://www.soulh2o.com/72