Hidden

SO, while I have the house to myself this week for VBS, I am CLEANING.... we all know a mom can't enjoy it until it is clean.  Once clean, I have grand plans, but can't move forward until the cleaning is done... I haven't even been able to get to the dining room table since the spelling bee!!! I did find the table this morning!  Then I got the idea that I would vacuum under the couch cushions... OH MY!!!!

It dawned on me as I removed the cushions and found, 2 smocks from our painting, paintbrushes, nasty food crumbs, and tons of other stuff, that my heart is just like that couch!  I can make it look soooo good on the outside.  I don't even know the dirt and muck and nastiness that is in there until God lifts away the "cushions" and exposes what I didn't know was there!!! Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?  

Surface mess....

Note the magnifying glass!  Ugh- sin is magnified and brought to light when we allow God to clean us out!  I think it is funny that I found a ton of paper clips under the cushion!!!  Maybe my oldest was building a chain or something, I'm not sure.... but it made me think that with God, I have all I need to put my heart right, and hold it together.  Because hidden among the dirt and nastiness, is His Word!  How refreshing to know that His word has all I need to "clean up" so that my insides are cleaned up to match the outside.   Already you are clean because of the Word I have spoken to you. John 15:3

The nastiness deep within!

The thing is, that I know that in a week or two, the inside of the couch won't look  much different than it does now.  In order to keep it clean, it will require my constant attention!  My heart is similar...actually, more like the dishes that need cleaned 3-6 times daily!!! It will require CONSTANT attention!  There is no way to keep up with the filth, yet God says, Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life Proverbs 4:23- thus is born the hypocrite, the sinner, in desperate need of a loving, merciful saving God!!!

God is constantly putting in more effort than I am to sanctify me.  I love to think that one day I'll shine like the stars...cause He's making me shiny!!! :) Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world... Phil 2:14-15