White As Snow

-

The other day, after working in the yard I came in to wash my super dirty hands. I noticed how dirty the suds were as I rubbed my hands together increasing the brown lather with every swipe. 


Obviously I would have to wash my hands more than once to get them clean. I rinsed the dirty suds, then pumped the hand soap for another try at cleanliness. 


Again I lathered my hands up, which were closer to clean the second time around, but still showed signs of dirt. One more round should do it. The third time was the charm As I lathered up, I felt satisfied with the snow-white suds that finally appeared. I rinsed them off, then noticed I still had dirt under my nails. Good grief! What a process just to get my hands clean. I was slightly irritated by how long it was taking to be clean again.


It’s exactly how I feel when there is something in my life I need to clean up or change. . .  A sin or a bad habit I seem to get a handle on, then realize at some point, it’s still a struggle. Even when I feel like I’m on top of it, there are often still little things under the surface I need to work on. I always assume, once I’ve asked God to help me, through prayer and scripture, I will not wrestle with it again. However, it takes many sessions, with God, daily scripture reading, and an earnest desire to change. 


If you are like me and get impatient with the process, I encourage you to remember it’s doesn’t happen overnight, and God understands that. It takes time and relationship. Strong relationships, like change, rarely happen overnight.


He will get us there.



“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Someone Call an Exorcist?

-
Image
Last Friday I went bowling with some of my family. I am aware of my low skill level, so I remained humble throughout the first game, and surprisingly finished in 1st place!  The second game began and I just knew I would dominate even more. I may not have been quite as humble. I was last on the list to go. I stood up and approached my ball with confidence. I picked it up, set my eye on the center arrow painted on the lane, then took a few quick steps forward just as I had before.  As I took my last step, I swung my arm backward, then forward, and fell flat on my face. Actually, flat is not entirely accurate. I’m pretty sure every one of my limbs flew in a different direction, and the position of my head may have had folks wondering if they should call an exorcist. I also seemed to be temporarily blinded from the fall but could hear my ball bouncing its way down the lane. Let’s pause for a moment of prayer. The problem was that I had stepped over the foul line into the lane— 1. Not reali
Read more

The Complexity of Prayer

-
Image
Have you ever considered the complexity of prayer? Have you ever had something you needed to pray about, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to talk to God about whatever the issue was? I have experienced that many times. I will call it “Prayer paralysis.” Prayer paralysis happens when you are afraid of any answer God might give you. If He says no, then you might feel bad, or sad, or even angry. If He says yes, then your fear factor increases because you just don’t think you can handle what a “Yes” entails (which essentially means that you don’t trust Him). So instead of revealing your lack of trust (Like seriously, you don’t think He knows? ), you just don’t pray. It’s kind of like when you were a little kid, and you would sit still and close your eyes, thinking that it would make you invisible. God already knows our fears of failure, self-pride, and even our trust issues, so we might as well just go ahead and lay it all at His feet. There’s another kind of prayer paralysis that I ha
Read more

Go Deeper

-
Image
  Anyone struggling with anxiety? I have struggled with it quite a bit. Then, I realize that forgetting to bring all of my anxiety-inducing problems to God, is a big part of the problem. Yesterday I talked about living in endurance mode. Part of that is taking all of the difficult things, and trying to wait them out.  If I really think about it, I may have subconsciously believed that struggling is just part of the journey and that I need to suck it up, because Jesus went through way more than I ever will.    But, “ Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)  He never intended for us to hold onto them. Sometimes we don’t bother saying anything to God because, well, He knows what’s happening. He can change it if He wants to. So we sit paralyzed—enduring! Is that familiar to anyone? Though He could whisk our struggles away at any time, part of the journey, part of our relationship with the Creator is rooted in commu
Read more