Last week I was looking through some saved documents and came across my outline from my book. I glanced over it, and when I saw the word eviction, it made me pause. I paused because I was able to reflect on the grace God has given me. The crazy thing is I had a conversation with my cousin a few days later about the lowest times of my life. We talked about my evictions and one in particular, which was the same-day eviction due to an incident that had nothing to do with me. I came home from work and had nowhere to lay my head by the night's end. If I told you how often I'd experienced this, you would look at me like, "I Know You Lying," but I'm not. Evictions didn't happen because I couldn't afford the rent but because of the actions of others. When I say your girl didn't have control over my money, I didn't at all. I was under the impression that rent was taken care of, not knowing eviction proceedings were already in place. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have a Sherriff put a red notice on the door stating you had to be out of there and, if not, your belongings would not be redeemable? Evictions were the story of my life for almost nine years. The day I evicted the person from my life who was causing the evictions was when I began to thrive. The things I lost I got back double. The floodgates of blessings were opened, but what if I had continued going through life this way?
Some of us have things or people that need to be removed from our lives because they are blocking us from where we are going. We don't remove them because we are unsure of the outcome, fearful, or need direction on where to start. If you can plan the eviction, you will have more control over the outcome and don't have to worry about someone telling you the clock is ticking. You become the clock and take control of whatever needs to be removed, but you have to "Start."
Starting the process will look different for everyone. It may mean walking away from a career you used to love, but now it's impacting your peace. It may look like leaving the man/woman you have been with forever who won't commit. It may also look like ending a friendship with someone you are no longer aligned with, and it's OK. The process may not be easy, and you may feel like quitting; however, if you don't go through it, you will never get to thrive. The thing you need to remove will only become more complicated to remove. So, Sis/Bro get to planning, packing, and serving that eviction notice.
I challenge you to look whatever that thing is in the face and say, in the words of Martin, "You Ain't Gotta Go Home, But You Gotta Get the Hell Up Out Of Here."
What are some things you need to evict out of your life?
What's holding you back?
Do you need some direction on how to start?