The Great Fernandez Purging of 2014

Greetings~

After three weeks and five days, the restoration company has finally started the cleanup in my burned garage. However, lest you think I haven’t been doing anything, please know that I have been fastidiously removing EVERY SINGLE THING inside my entire house and (A) donating it, (B) discarding it, or (C) cleaning it and putting it away.

This has been a massive undertaking, but I have commented to my kids that I am doing them a huge favor. The day I go home to Jesus, my family will walk into an orderly home. The only thing they will have to do is each take a copy of a USB Drive that will contain all the pictures and movies I have ever taken. Everything else can be easily removed and dispersed how they see fit. 

To date, I have made a dozen drop offs at the Salvation Army. I can not believe how much stuff I was holding onto. Saturday morning I filled a bunch of bags with Disney VHS tapes, books I had read in high school, mismatched utensils, rattan place mats, old lunchboxes, three English/Spanish dictionaries, shoes, key chains, several stuffed animals, at least 30 greeting cards, pillow cases, two blankets, a bunch of Rayray’s duffel bags from college, 54 one-cent stamps, and seven assorted cell phone cases and chargers.

It feels good to liquidate. It feels good to open a drawer and see orderliness. It feels good to look at the closets and see everything organized by color. It feels good to go into the once-cramped office and take a deep lemony breath. It feels even better to know that not one space will be exempt from what I am now calling, “The Great Fernandez Purging of 2014.”

And the reason this all started is because of the fire. Even though it was contained in the garage, we were told that if even one tiny speckle of soot escaped into the house, it would eventually cause an odor and cause damage.

The scary part is that everything looked so normal after the fire; I almost didn’t allow the industrial-sized air cleaners into my house because of the loud noise they make. But look at this filter. Isn’t it shocking? And everything looked so normal on the outside...

And while I purge, the cleaning company is going to not only re-do the entire garage, they are going to clean all the furniture inside, re-paint all the walls, scrub the kitchen cabinets, and sanitize the air ducts. I would have thought all of that unnecessary if it hadn’t been for the filter.

Isn’t in interesting that God talks about cleaning the house in the Bible?

1 Peter 2:1-3 “So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.”

Let’s talk some more tomorrow~

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for Your wisdom. Help us make a clean sweep. We do not want to hold onto anything that cramps our style or weighs us down. We want to breathe easy, live easy, and enjoy life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN~