Well it’s been quite a while since I wrote on my blog. I’m
kind of changing it and updating it a bit to reflect the current path of the
race called “my life.” I hope you are encouraged and challenged through the
words that the Pen Master gives me. (Shout-out to my little sis, Michele, for
that term!) What better week to begin again than with this week serving with my
church’s mission project called Love Atlanta. This was a week that my church
partnered with several charitable organizations to “love Atlanta.” There were
tons of opportunities to clean, paint, sort books, garden, feed, love on, work
with kids, listen and be a friend to the homeless, brokenhearted, needy and
oppressed. My husband and I chose three very different projects. I will be
blogging about each one in the coming days and how the Lord showed me something
special in all of them.
Cleaning a homeless shelter for young adults was the first
project we did. There were about six of us working in this shelter. It was not
the most glamorous work, but it was a needed task to be done. We went into
their living quarters and swept, mopped, dusted, vacuumed and cleaned their
bathrooms. There were about 10 rooms we cleaned plus two living/recreational
areas. I mainly worked on cleaning the bathrooms. God humbled me years ago and
told me, if all he wanted me to do was clean toilets, then I should do it to
the best of my ability and for his glory. So I did this week. Now granted, it’s
not my favorite cleaning job… (As if any cleaning
is?); but I am pretty good at getting a toilet spotless and shiny. I have a
family with 3 boys and a husband, so I am picky about toilets being cleaned—and
the seats being put down as well! So I cleaned for the good of the homeless
young adults, and for the glory of God. I scrubbed the showers as well. Let me
just tell you something: mildew comes straight from the devil himself! I do not
know what the purpose of that organism is. I’m sure there is one—decomposition
or something—but it does not belong
on the inside of a home. I scrubbed with a disinfectant and a little scrubby
pad I had—to no avail. These mildew stains had been there awhile. The longer
they had been there, the larger they spread and the harder it was to clean
them. So I had to get the big guns out… a spray bottle with bleach. It
certainly worked better, but not like I would have liked. There were still
stains left behind, probably permanent, that would need to be painted or
grouted over. We worked for three straight hours and I tried to get all the toilets
and showers clean, (other workers did the sinks, mirrors and floors) but they
weren’t as white and shiny as I would have preferred. I wanted the kids to come
to their rooms and be blown away by how clean and shiny everything was. Just to
be clear, we made a HUGE difference, but I wanted to do so much more. But alas,
we had to come to a stopping point because of time.
There is a lesson to be learned from this. Maybe a few different
ones. We come to the Father and he washes us and bleaches us totally clean—no
doubt about that at all. But being in the world we live in, with the skin
called our flesh, we get stains on us from sin—the mildew of our lives. (I told
you where it came from!) The longer we let it go unattended, the more it can
grow and leave permanent marks on us. Now, I know that Jesus’ blood takes away
our sin; he did that way before we ever even committed the first one. But the
consequences can definitely leave us with marks, scars or even a limp as we run
our race toward The Prize. We should attend to each mildew stain as soon as we
can. Not by cleaning it up by ourselves, as I have tried so often to do; but by
showing God our dirt, (he sees it already) and asking him to “bleach” us clean
with his blood. The longer we wait, the more ashamed we are to show him. Have
you ever been ashamed to have a visitor see your house or especially your
bathroom because it hasn’t been cleaned recently? I can think of a few times myself.
But the reality is, our God is one of those visitors, who isn’t really a
“visitor.” He’s family. He’s our Father. And he doesn’t care how dirty we are.
He’s still willing to fellowship with us and even clean us up, if we allow Him.
If we wait a while, although he still makes us as beautiful and clean as new,
WE see the stains left behind. Sometimes they’re left on those we love too. Oh,
those are hard to look at, to be sure. We need to seek forgiveness from them
and then for ourselves as well. But the stains left behind, just might be a
reminder to not go there again. The scars we are left with or the limp we walk
with, might be a token left behind of the forgiveness we’ve received, the pain
he has healed, or a heart he has broken in order to be put back together by the
real Healer. The true Cleaner of our lives.
I currently run my race with a limp. I have battle scars and
stains. It’s okay. They serve me well and I am ever so grateful I can still be
used by Jesus for the purpose which he has called me. And fortunately, he is
still working on me. No time limit on his scrubbing. It’s not very pleasant at
times, but he does it oh so gently, with so much love and grace. After all, he
is my Abba and I’m his ragamuffin daughter, who he has begun a good work in—and
rest assured he will complete me—in his time.
Thank you my Abba, for cleaning me white as snow. And even
though I am left with some scars, stains, and even limps from my own doing, you
are able to use those in your greater purpose for me, for others and even for
your splendor. Only you can do that. Give me strength to carry-on my race with
endurance, fixing my eyes upon you, my Prize, the Author and Finisher of my
faith. Oh how I long to see you at the finish line!
Love, Your ragamuffin runner.
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