DIRTY LAUNDRY, CLEAN HEART

I’ve published this before, but I felt like I wanted to read it again myself and thought you might like it too.

DIRTY LAUNDRY, CLEAN HEART

I took a pair of my work pants out of the basket and hung them on the line. I’d washed them and used lots of bleach. But when I pinned them up, sadness came over me and I started to get choked up.

There were dozens of paint spots and stains from all the recent projects. There were more than I even realized. I thought of how many stains are in our lives. No matter how we try to bleach them out, they remain a stain. And no matter how open we think we are about our lives, if we take an honest look, we’ve all got something to hide, something we don’t want shared.

God already knows every one of those things. The Lord was right there with me when I stole that makeup. He was there when I ganged up on that girl and threw her bike in the creek. He was there when I broke a friendship by saying something hurtful. God said to Jacob “but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities” (Is. 43:24). Instinctively we know that God is omnipresent, but still we do stupid and wrong things in His presence. Why?

Because we don’t really BELIEVE He’s there. In our bedrooms, in the bathroom, at the bar, the casino...you name the place or situation, He’s there. The Lord is with each of us everywhere, whether we like it or not! There’s no hiding from God. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (Ps. 139:7-8).

God sees all our stained laundry, but He loves us so much for believing in His son Jesus, that He’s willing to overlook all our sins and miraculously wipes them out, for His own sake! He doesn’t WANT to look at our stains. He only wants to see that we believed in His son Jesus and for that alone, He “blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Is. 43:25).

I went out and got my painter’s pants off the line, smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Yes they’re stained, but as clean as they can be for now. Though God was there when every splash of paint hit them, He doesn’t care. He only sees who wears them—me, the one He loves.

Love, Carolyn

I’m making good progress on WINGS Volume 2. Thanks for your prayers!

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