I have a writing prompts journal that I hardly use since returning to school. I am in school now for a Bachelor of Science in Communications, and as you can imagine it is very writing orientated. As much as I love creative writing, I found that I was having a hard time managing to make time for creative and scholastic writing. However, so many journals have begun collecting dust and continue not being used. I recently was inspired to open that old dusty journal and make an entry for the first time in a year. What inspired me to write you ask? TikTok of all things. In no way am I encouraging the use of TikTok nor am I being endorsed by them, but I found inspiration to pick up my journal because of a one-minute video that popped up on my “for you” page.

A young lady spoke a simple word, encouraged her viewers to pick up a journal, and let this be your prompt- “Make room.” Immediately the song Making Room by David & Nicole Binion came to mind, and I began to write what it means to make room. It’s easy to clean physically because we can see the clutter and junk and we know we need to pick up, but spiritually and mentally it can be a bit challenging to pick up on those things. We often can feel burdened or clutter-minded, but it’s not like people can really look at us and see that we are clutter-minded and burdened, and we try to brush it off or disguise it so our close friends won’t notice.

As I started writing and thinking about all the clutter and chaos in my own mind, I could not help but cry. Instead of giving those worries, fears, those what-ifs to God I held on to them and boxed them up in the corners of my mind so much so that even when blessings were being poured out in my life, I would run to any corner of my mind and begin unpacking boxes of worry, guilt, and shame. Right now in my life, I have been working towards being more open and transparent as I walk trusting God fully. For years I struggled trusting others. I knew that the only way God was going to trust me to win a soul as if I trusted Him completely, and more than anything I want to reach souls. So during the pandemic, I began praying that God would change my heart, and it was not an easy process, it still is not an easy process. I have had to let go of things I held on to dearly, I have had to release secular ideals I valued, I have had to truly rely on others, which if you know me, you know that is very difficult for me. But through it all God has truly been with me.

Making room is not simply moving things from one room to another, it requires you to let go of something and that can be difficult. Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” I was desperate last year to grow in the midst of the isolation and in the midst of the chaos but despite my own efforts, it felt like I could not move two steps forward without being knocked down four steps. It literally was not until I sat down to journal and reflect on everything that I realized, I was trying to squeeze Jesus into a coat closet. I had not made room for Him in my life, I made room for my problems, and chaos, but I had not made room for my God. Slowly as the realities of life hit and I realized I had no choice but to surrender to God’s will for my life was I able to see that I was the one impending my growth, I was the hoarder on TLC that we look at in disgust wanted better but not being willing to let go.

We are again reminded in Hebrews 12:1, that there is a great cloud of witnesses, we aren’t in this alone! We can lay aside that trouble that we have been carrying around for so long that we forget it’s there, and we can lay aside that secret side that we have been hiding away from for so long. And we can run in liberty and in peace.

There is such peace in running a race when you are not burdened or weighed down by opinions of others, fears, and worries within your own mind. And you may be thinking if you empty the boxes there will be emptiness, but God will replace that void with joy, peace, grace, a serenity that can not be explained. He will fill those empty places and voids with so much fullness. Make room for Him, unload those boxes, run with patience this race that is set before you.