#072 - When stuff builds up

Welcome back to the Hit Splits Podcast. My name is Shelly Hits, the owner and founder of Christian Book Academy. And today I just want to talk about when stuff builds up. And the thing that brought this to my mind is our bathroom sink. So recently it has been draining slowly, and, you know, you just kind of let it go, Let it go. At least I do. I won't put that on you. Some of you may take care of it right away, but some you of CJ and I just tend to let it go, let it go. And then all of a sudden, the water is backing up. It's not just draining slowly, it's backing up. And so it's like, okay, I need to do something about this. And then by that point, it is really bad. So we have this little tool that we've been using for years. Because of my long hair, my hair a lot of times gets in the. The drain. And even if using Drano and things doesn't work, but this tool will work. And you stick it down your sink pipe or your tub, and I'm gonna go find it. So I can actually tell you the name of it. It's called Zip It. It's just Zip it tool. And it's. It's to unclog drains. And I just noticed it's supposed to be for single use, but we just clean it and keep it for other times. But yeah, it's this tool called Zip It. You stick it down and it. It'll catch, like, the hair and the other stuff, and it will bring it up. Now warning. It is disgusting. It is so gross. Like, C.J. and I were like, who's going to do it this time?

And, you know, more times than not, I end up doing it. I mean, it's my hair that clogs it, but, oh, my gosh, it is just so disgusting. And I did it yesterday, and at first the drain thing, it just wouldn't even come up. It was so stuck with the hair. So I. I put that tool down there and got some of the hair out first. And then finally the whole thing came out and it was just a huge clump of disgusting hair. I mean, gross. Anyways, hopefully you're not eating while you're listening to this. But it just reminded me sometimes we allow things to build up in our lives. Now it might just be the season you're in, you know, when these last few years with COVID and everything going on, we just didn't have the bandwidth. And for all the things like, we just are trying to get through the day and do the things. And so sometimes, you know, emotionally and spiritually and otherwise, things may build up. But if you're feeling sluggish, if you feel like something's off, if you feel like there's just this wall maybe between you and God, or there's just this wall between you and your creativity, maybe there's some. Something that's built up. And, you know, first of all, if it's something to do with God, ask him if there's any sin and confess that sin and get that stuff out of there. I mean, that. When I was clearing out that clog, it was disgusting. But then it literally only took me a few minutes. It was so quick, easy, and it was done and now it's working perfectly. So it didn't take that long. But I had to face it, right? I had to face that disgusting, gross stuff. And sometimes we do need to face our sin sometimes. It's just we've gotten into habits and we've allowed those habits to build and they're. They get stronger over time. It might be a habit of scrolling on social media first thing in the morning. I had that habit for years where I would wake up in the morning, my phone would be right beside my bed, I scroll on Instagram or whatever, and, oh, I mean, I wouldn't spend time with the Lord because I was scrolling on social media. It was horrible when I look back, but I was just in the midst of it, and it was a habit and it was just over time. It just built up. And so now I don't even keep my phone in my bedroom. I charge it in another room. And I'm really not spending much time at all on social media. It's been a process. It's been a process. But what has been building up in your life? Are you vegging out on Netflix or some other form of entertainment? And, you know, you could spend that time with writing. And now this is not to feel guilty. It's not to feel shame. It's to say, freedom is on the other side of this thing, friend. Just like my sink that got free of the clog and the stuff that was causing it to back up. And it was annoying. Every time we use the sink, it was so annoying. And now it's just gone. It was like a dealing with it. And sometimes when you have habits, it takes time. It's not gonna be an instant fix, but it takes time to change those habits. For me right now, the Lord just has me in a season where I'm fasting from entertainment. Like, you know, the Shows that I would watch on HGTV or fiction novels. Now those things aren't necessarily sinful, but he's just asking me to fast from that so that I can focus more on him. Will I never watch a show again or will I never read a fiction novel again? No, but this is a specific season of a fast for me so that I can return to better habits. And I'll tell you, like, I've returned to my habit of Bible memory. I have returned to a community of other believers that really encourages me and I'm getting more active in their community. Like there's things that I'm doing now because I'm not doing those other things and I'm developing that new habit. So what is it that's built up for you? And it's okay if you're not ready to face it today, but if you are, just say, lord, I'm willing, I'm willing to take out that zip it tool. I'm willing to get my hands dirty if needed. You know, wear, wear gloves if you need to, you know, and I'm willing to do the work to get and face this horrible thing, you know, this gross, disgusting clog or, you know, whatever it might be. It might not be a horrible, horrible thing for you. It might just be, I said, you know, scrolling on social media or something else. But I'm, I'm ready and I'm willing to face this. And Lord, would you do the work? Because, friend, we can have all the self help in the world and it can work for a while and a lot of people will say that they can keep it up, you know, just with self help alone. But I will tell you, I have tried and self help alone is only going to get you so far. It's the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you doing the work. And as you cooperate with God and with his spirit, that you're going to get lasting change. You if you know, do you want to finish writing your book but you feel blocked, come to the Lord, ask him, what is it that's in the way? Where am I spending my time? Are you wanting to market your book but you feel stuck? There might be mindsets or there might be lies, or there might be things people have said over you, or there might be disappointments from the past of things that you've tried and the Lord wants to, to heal you of that. He wants to free you of that. But anyways, I know this has kind of gotten a little bit deep, all started with such a simple story, but you know, God wants freedom for us. He wants freedom for you. He wants freedom for me. And I know for me, like, I had a season of a couple years where I was just escaping into entertainment. Not anything that was evil necessarily, but because life was stressful, we were dealing with my dad and taking care of my dad in 2021, he still lives with my sister, and there's still things that we're doing with him. He's going to come and stay with us for five weeks in May and June, and so there's still stuff that are going that's going on. But 2021 was really, you know, hard. For that reason, 2022 was really hard for us. We had turnover of our team main. My main assistant twice. Financial stuff. And then it's like, I feel like I'm able to kind of catch my breath right now. And it's not like. Not that things are, like, necessarily easy, but comparatively, it's like, okay. And I feel like the Lord's like, all right, Shelly, it's been long enough. Let's kind of get back on track. And he's so kind. He's so loving. And he didn't force me a year and a half ago, right? I mean, he is so kind, and he's so patient. So for you, it may not be the time, it may not be the season right now. Don't force it. But if the Lord is. Is calling to you, is if he's tugging at your heart as you listen, and you know, there are some things that you could do to draw even closer to God, but then also see more progress in your writing, publishing, and marketing, come to him. Come to him and maybe do some journaling today and just ask him to help you. All right. Let me just pray for you, Lord, we just thank you so much that no matter what we're facing, no matter how messy, ugly, disgusting it is, no matter what sin we have, you know, been involved in or how we've been maybe even trying to run away from your plan for our life, like Jonah did. Lord, you are patient. You are always loving. Your purpose will prevail no matter what we choose. Do you will. You know, it says you will accomplish your purpose. And so we thank you, Lord, that it's not dependent on us and what we do. But we thank you, Lord, that you do choose to use us and that you do want to partner with us. So I just pray if there's anything in the way, if there's anything that's been built up over time in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives, Lord, that you would show us and just be ever so gentle, ever so kind and show us the next steps and then the next, and then the next. And so I just thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in my heart and my mind, my life. And I pray that you would do something similar. And my friends that are listening, that you would bring revival in their hearts as well. We thank you, Lord, that you are doing a work. You are working even when we can't see it. So thank you, Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. All right, friends, I hope that this encouraged you. I know it's. It's one of those things. It's like tearing off the band aid. It's like just facing the. The. This. The gunk and the clogged pipe. Sometimes we have to do the thing that we don't want to do. And that's. That's where I've kind of been lately. And it's. But it's been good. I know I've shared some things where I've. I've been struggling, but I feel like I'm getting into a better place. And so thank you for your prayers and, you know, just one day at a time, one moment at a time, until Jesus returns or until we. We go to meet him face to face. But we can trust him, friends. All right, Love you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.