Cleaning & Healing

 Cleaning can be exhausting physically, but did you know it could also be emotionally draining as well? Since I moved into my new house here with my new husband, I haven't really unpacked all my things. With so much going on, it just got put on the back burner. But the clutter continued to pile up and I had had enough! So, this past week, I started tackling the clutter and the boxes. I wasn't expecting this time to be one of tears though. But, you forget about certain things until you come across them in a box. In those boxes were pictures of Erik and of a life from long ago. Papers written on, pictures drawn from my kids. Books I used to read to the kids, Bible studies I have gone to, Marriage conferences Erik and I attended, home school books I once used, and so much more. I started cleaning on what would have been my dad's 72nd birthday. I found so many memories of him too. Some things would just send me into a crying heap on the floor. Some things took me by surprise. At the end of the first day, I was emotionally spent. When Norm came home, he embraced me and I just started crying. He is so tender and caring. He poured me a nice glass of wine and gave me a nice back rub!! What a great way to end an exhausting day. 
 Day 2 of cleaning brought with more emotions, but I feel like I was better prepared! It was more papers than pictures I discovered as I cleaned out drawers full of stuff! I filled a large box full of trash! Funny how we tend to hold onto things! But each time we clean, it seems to get easier to throw things away. Of course the hardest things for me to come across are bills from Erik's death or things related to the funeral. It is still so hard to believe he is gone! And getting rid of home school books and the desks my kids once used was also very hard for me. The thought that I will never teach them again is too hard to think about sometimes. I miss the days when we were all together all day long! My life is just so different now.... not that different is bad... it is just different.
 Discovering these memories made me very thankful for so many things. Thankful that we did the things we did. Thankful that I saved all those precious moments in time. It also made me thankful for where I am today. I have truly been blessed beyond measure! I have a wonderful new husband that wants to experience those memories with me. He wants pictures of Erik to be hung in the house for all to see! That means so much to me! He is just so loving and caring! I know deep in my heart that we were created to be together! We complete each other! He is a great man and I know Erik would be so happy that he is the man God chose to love and care for us! I am also thankful for the 2 young men that are my step sons! They are such a great addition to my life and to my heart! I am honored to be their step mother and to be able to love them and care for them also. 
 So with my cleaning, also came a stage in my healing. I was able to look at my past, but also able to SEE my future. I know that God had a greater purpose in taking Erik home to be with Him. I know that God always intended for Norm and I to be together. It is just the way the story was written by God! He is the Author and Finisher of life! That means more to me now than it ever did before!!!!!! So I will cling to that in the hard moments of life. 
 I challenge you, my reader, what is waiting for you to "clean out"? Is there a room in your house or your heart that needs some de-cluttering? When we begin to remove the clutter, we are better able to SEE more clearly what God is doing in our lives! Maybe today is your day! Be blessed!!!!!!