My daughter, you need to let go of the suitcase before you can hold on to the steering wheel. Ouch!! No way around it, these words, delivered directly to me by God, stung my core. Talk about salt-in-the-wound wisdom. Truly, this was God’s double helping of deeply needed seasoning for my meat and potatoes, heart and soul current “tripping” through life.
Yep, as I struggled to move forward and get beyond the wreck of my week, my hands weren’t folded in prayer, but rather, clutching a very heavy, burden-filled suitcase. In honesty, my suitcase was not luggage but baggage. It wasn’t transporting the necessities and treasures luggage holds. It was stuffed full of hurt, anger and resentment, best defined as weighed down baggage. Be it luggage or baggage, for us to steer our lives toward where God designates our future rests, both luggage and baggage must be stored for the journey. The difference is luggage goes into the trunk attached to our journey’s vehicle. Baggage must be heaved into a detached dumpster headed for burial in the toxic waste section of a landfill.
Only with our hands free from all suitcases are we able to grab the wheel and allow God to steer our course. Plain and Simple, we can’t find our future, if we are clinging to our past. We can’t reach new gains, if we are clasping previous losses. We can’t find yet to come successes, if we are holding onto over and done with failures. Above all, we can’t be filled with God’s love, if we are glued to Satan’s hurts.
Like the sun penetrating storm clouds with rays of SONlight revealing the path ahead, my hands, once free of the suitcase, grabbed hold of that steering wheel and joyfully sang out — I’m ready, Lord. Lead me. I’m suitcase free and willing to embark for wherever You next steer my heart and soul. Let the journey to begin!!
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 