My friend Debbie and I were talking about downsizing the other day.  Our husbands and we are all around the same age–60-ish–and the seasons of our life are definitely changing. 
It’s time to spend with grandkids, time to care for aging parents, deal with retirement, employment changes.  Income changes.

And did I mention downsizing?
As in, making the most of the small space you have so that your life can contain more of the bigger that God has in mind.

Debbie and her husband are moving from a 2 story split-level home to a 1000 sq. foot apartment.  “It’s time to be ruthless”, she said. ” No more hanging on to sentimental stuff–I just have to sacrifice some things.”

That’d be brutal for me; our home is not large, but the space I have is full of mementos: photos and rocks and shells and pictures and well, things that all MEAN something to me.  They’re markers, anchors to hang my life on, icons that define my life.

It’s funny how our phone conversation turned to this subject–God had been speaking to me about cleaning up clutter this Summer.
Clean up my desk space, sort through files, organize my writing, clean out my Daytimer, go through old business cards, index my journals (ditch some of my journals?) 

Much of what I have to sort through, being a writer, are all the scraps of paper and notecards and bulletin covers I have with Scriptures God has used over the years to speak to me during different times of my life.

About 25 years’ worth:
Bible verses from Women’s Retreats, from my quiet time and devotions, from a book I read, or a word from someone else during a prayer.  Notecards from Bible Studies. 
They all mean something. Yes, they are benchmarks, many of them with a date, noting for me a time when God did something in my life or a season when He was speaking a particular word to me.
But still….

God, do you really just want me to recycle all these?  Toss them in the ‘Paper’ only pile?  I mean, some of these notes are from Beth Moore Bible Studies, for Pete’s sake…
It’s Scripture–holy, sacred, pregnant with purpose….

‘Throw them away?’

“Yes.”

‘Really?’

“Yes, I’m getting ready to do new a thing in your life. 
A new season of ministry, a new season in the word, a new land. 
Get rid of the old.
Leave it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That’s just what the pastor was talking about this morning, sharing the word to Abram when God said ‘Go.’
Say goodbye to your family, your familiar countryside, your way of life and set out on a journey.
To a new land.  I’ll tell you about it on the way, Abraham, so you’re going to have to trust me.
But believe me, it’ll be grander and more amazing than you can imagine.
So leave………..

Abe just did it.  Left for another land, sight unseen.  By faith.
And the Word of God records later (in Romans Chapter 4) that ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’

The ‘it’ is faith–believing in what you can’t see.  This is what pleased God.
Just trusting in Him. 
The pastor also pointed out that many people questioning Christianity and the idea of Jesus’ Lordship in their lives often say, “That is far too easy.  Just declare Jesus as my Savior and receive His forgiveness and simply walk by faith?  You sure there’s nothing I need to DO?  Nothing to add?”
No, nothing to add. 

So, a proper response might be to those who are seeking,
“You think it’s easy?  Try following God by faith for a week.  See how easy that is.”

It takes faith to trust when God says “Go,” that He does have another land in mind for us, a land of promise, blessing and amazing largeness.

To trust in his ideas–to  l e a v e  and  l e t  g o
Are you in?