washed by his blood.

I just wanted you all to know.. I hate doing the dishes. It is one of the only things about cleaning I TRULY hate. It's strange though, because it seems like every time I am in the middle of washing dishes a peace comes over me. It's like everything else tunes out except me and Jesus and the soapy dishes. Almost every time I do the dishes.. I get some kind of revelation from the Lord. Maybe I should do them more often.

Tonight my dad handed me this absolutely horrific dog bowl to take to Jordan who started out doing the dishes. It was beyond disgusting. Jordan got this look on her face like "Yeah...NOT gonna happen." Something in me switched gears and I had this crazy urge to wash this bowl. I then volunteered to do the dishes and started realizing something. I began to realize that when washing my dishes, my "favorite" dishes to wash are the dirtiest and most disgusting ones. I get some kind of strange joy out of watching them go from stained and gooped up to sparkly and clean. It's the weirdest thing. Then I started to remember when I was a kid and I LOVED playing in the mud. There was some kind of fascination about taking a bath and seeing all the mud and dirt come off and seeing myself become "sparkly and clean". I was laughing about this tonight as I was washing this horrific dog bowl and as I laughed, all of the background noise began to fade out and I began to hear the voice of the Lord. He spoke to me and told me how this strange joy and excitement I get about these random things...are qualities of his. I stood for a minute, curious, wondering what he would say next. Then he began to explain about how much joy he gets taking a dirty sinner and cleaning them up. He loves watching all the mud and grime run off and fall to the ground. He told me how much he loves to focus on the dirtiest of all..they are the most fun, they are the ones he likes to use. He likes to take the people that the people of the world roll their eyes at and give the "Yeah..NOT gonna happen" look. (No offense Jords.. I don't blame you for not wanting to clean that thing.) He loves taking what no one else would ever dream of wanting and making it into the most impressive and beautiful piece of china.

I can't help but smile about the fact that God talked to me about this tonight. He knows, of course, that I've been at my dirtiest here lately. He knows that I've been in a place of not understanding anything. He knows I've been at a place of laying down on the ground and saying.. "I can't clean up this mess." He's been getting a true joy out of cleaning it up. He doesn't gripe and complain when he sees my filth..he smiles and says "hand me the blood" (his version of soap). He takes that blood and lathers me up in it..and watches excitedly as it chases all the dirt and scum away. Then he pulls me up on his lap and tells me of his love and of his plans. I always feel it most during these times. I am thankful for these hard times. I know they mean so much to him..because they are the times that bring us closest. They are the times that my pride is gone and I have no choice but to run to the ONLY one who can clean up the messes I've made.

Revelation 1:5 "....All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us."