By Laura Curtis

For a year and a half, my husband and I were in the thick of remodeling our home—making it more functional for our family and lifestyle. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we ended up with an awkward, unusable space near our back door and laundry room. It had once been a little desk alcove off the kitchen/family room, but after the remodel, it just didn’t serve a purpose anymore.

Our vision was to turn the deeper side section into shelves and the shallow entry area into a bench with shoe storage and a coat rack. We talked about it now and then, but we could never seem to commit or decide on anything. Eventually, my husband built some great sliding shelves into the deep recess, but the rest remained untouched. In the meantime, I placed a little shoe rack there just to make use of the space—but I hated it. It looked terrible, there was nowhere to hang jackets, and yet… it stayed that way for nearly a year.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that by placing that shoe rack there—even though I didn’t like it—I had “filled” the space. There was no longer a sense of urgency to change it. The need had dissipated.

Later, as I learned about the Law of Vacuum (aka “Nature Abhors a Vacuum”), everything clicked. The principle is simple: make space for what you want by letting go of what no longer serves you—especially with a generous, open heart. The universe will compensate you. That, paired with what I was learning in the Mindset Mastery course about Being Clear on What You Want, helped me realize I had to do something different.

So, step one: I got rid of the ugly shoe rack.

Then for my midterm goal, I decided to get crystal clear on what I wanted that space to look and feel like. I didn’t say a word to my husband—I just started visualizing it. I browsed online for ideas, bookmarked pictures, wrote down exactly what I wanted. This space was going to be perfect.

The following weekend, out of the blue, my husband turned to me and said, “Let’s finish those shelves and build a coat tree.”

I showed him my vision—and he built exactly what I had imagined.

Even better, we already had nearly all the materials leftover from our remodel. The bench? Made from pieces of our old kitchen cabinets. He even made it removable, in case we need to access the shelves behind it. The only thing we had to buy was the shiplap. A few paint touch-ups remain, but honestly—it’s better than I imagined. I smile every time I walk in the back door.

These laws work. Seriously—put them to the test.

I often think of the promise in Malachi 3:10:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

These laws are true. And I believe God is just waiting for us to prove Him—to trust Him, to come believing, expecting to receive. When we do, we can’t help but stand all amazed at the love He pours out again and again.