A Beautiful Mess and the White Robe 4
Hey Girls! Sorry my writing has been a little sporadic (again). My son is fighting a 5 day fever and my schedule is out of whack. I have missed the gym, missed my free time, and missed my writing time. It seems like when one thing gets thrown off, everything else goes with it. I have dealt with it fine....if you consider eating anything and everything in the pantry fine....then yes, I have dealt with it fine. However, if I have to miss HomeMakers again tomorrow, someone is going to have to bring me groceries......and by groceries I mean ice cream, chocolate, and Tostitos lime chips.....might as well throw in a frozen pizza.....make it whole wheat crust though.....I am watching what I eat you know! Ha!
At the end of the last blog, I had given Jessica the robe. It felt awesome to know I had heard from the Lord and obeyed. I had absolutely no regrets. I didn't for a second wish I had the robe. The desire for a robe was no longer even there.....
The next day I was talking to my Girl April. I was telling her the robe story and saying how fun it was to be used by God in such a way. I hadn't had too many experiences like that at the time, so it was a big deal to me. There was a lot of dead air on her end of the line. I wondered if she thought I was dumb for giving up the robe or something. But that wasn't the cause of the silence. The silence was due to her jaw hitting the floor as I told my story.
After a long pause she says, "You are never going to believe this. The other day Eric was sick and I had to stay home all day. I was going nuts climbing the walls and decided to clean out one of my closets. I came across one of the old Flagship Club spa robes from when Matt worked at the club. It is still brand new in the bag. I had forgotten all about it. I held it in my hand and said "Lord, this would make a really good gift for someone. Please let me know who I should give it to!" She started laughing, "I guess that would be you now wouldn't it?"
Well now we were both going bonkers. "How cool is that!" we both exclaimed. We were laughing and praising God and all fired up. Now she was in on this Holy Ghost mission. It was the funnest thing ever. "That's why the Lord had me pick the white one....He knew I was going to get a white one, and wanted me to know for sure that I had heard correctly, and since I started out with white, I would end up with white." I had always heard that the Lord delights in the details, and this was a perfect example.
I believed God wanted me to put on the white robe each morning and remember that He delights in the details of my life and "has me covered". I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. But there was even more to it than that. The next day I was watching Joyce Meyers and she was talking about having right standing with God. She started talking about....you guessed it.....the white robe of righteousness. How we get to put it on each and every day, because of the shed blood of Jesus. "That is why I wanted you to have white" I felt the Holy Spirit say. "I want you to think of me each morning when you put your robe on. I want you to see yourself as you stand in front of the mirror, with your white robe on. I want you to see yourself draped in righteousness. That is how I see you every single day, no matter what has happened."
Woah....that was a huge revelation for a Girl like me. It took me a long time to let it fully soak in. Every morning I put on the robe and thought "Wow. The Lord really went to great lengths in order that I may understand this. This must be really important." And I am still learning every day just how important this truth is. Looking back it seems like every time I feel like the Lord isn't "hearing me" or taking care of me like I think He should, it always goes back to me forgetting that I have right standing with Him, and I can boldly go before the throne and ask for anything in the name of Jesus.....and it shall be done for me!
My robe got worn and old and I wanted a new one. Ulta was giving away robes as a free gift with purchase on cologne or perfume. I went there and bought Tom some cologne. As I checked out the sales girl said "I'm sorry, all we have left are white ones". "Perfect" I said. "That's exactly what I wanted". I must have said it a little too enthusiastically because she looked at me like I was kind of strange. She didn't realize I had an "inside joke" with the Lord. I didn't bother to explain.
So what does all of this have to do with the title the Lord dropped in my head on my way to church last week? What is the Beautiful Mess He was talking about? I was reading the book of Ephesians last week. It is one of my favorite books and every time I read it, I feel like I am reading it for the first time. Different things jump out at me each time. This time there were 2 scriptures that went off in my heart. They were Ephesians 1:4-5 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. That is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Even when I was still running wild, lost, and without Him, he still loved me and chose me as His own. He still saw me as the Girl He knew I would be. He still saw me as beautiful.....even though I was a mess. A Beautiful Mess is what the Lord would describe me as years ago. Perhaps the angels in heaven would say "Lord, look at her. Now what is she doing? Are you sure she is going to to make it?" "Yes" He would reply, "She is my beautiful mess".
And that is how He felt about all of us before we asked Jesus into our hearts. We have always been, and will always be beautiful to Him. The Good News is, even though our lives get messy, we are no longer a mess. We have our white robes, every single day. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, continues to clean up after us, and it pleases Him to do it. It is the reason He was given to us. With revelation like that, how could I not go about my day praising and loving Him?! The more I learn and understand what He does for me every single day, the more my heart desires to live a life worthy of what He has done. A Beautiful Mess.........it's the best compliment I could ever receive!
At the end of the last blog, I had given Jessica the robe. It felt awesome to know I had heard from the Lord and obeyed. I had absolutely no regrets. I didn't for a second wish I had the robe. The desire for a robe was no longer even there.....
The next day I was talking to my Girl April. I was telling her the robe story and saying how fun it was to be used by God in such a way. I hadn't had too many experiences like that at the time, so it was a big deal to me. There was a lot of dead air on her end of the line. I wondered if she thought I was dumb for giving up the robe or something. But that wasn't the cause of the silence. The silence was due to her jaw hitting the floor as I told my story.
After a long pause she says, "You are never going to believe this. The other day Eric was sick and I had to stay home all day. I was going nuts climbing the walls and decided to clean out one of my closets. I came across one of the old Flagship Club spa robes from when Matt worked at the club. It is still brand new in the bag. I had forgotten all about it. I held it in my hand and said "Lord, this would make a really good gift for someone. Please let me know who I should give it to!" She started laughing, "I guess that would be you now wouldn't it?"
Well now we were both going bonkers. "How cool is that!" we both exclaimed. We were laughing and praising God and all fired up. Now she was in on this Holy Ghost mission. It was the funnest thing ever. "That's why the Lord had me pick the white one....He knew I was going to get a white one, and wanted me to know for sure that I had heard correctly, and since I started out with white, I would end up with white." I had always heard that the Lord delights in the details, and this was a perfect example.
I believed God wanted me to put on the white robe each morning and remember that He delights in the details of my life and "has me covered". I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. But there was even more to it than that. The next day I was watching Joyce Meyers and she was talking about having right standing with God. She started talking about....you guessed it.....the white robe of righteousness. How we get to put it on each and every day, because of the shed blood of Jesus. "That is why I wanted you to have white" I felt the Holy Spirit say. "I want you to think of me each morning when you put your robe on. I want you to see yourself as you stand in front of the mirror, with your white robe on. I want you to see yourself draped in righteousness. That is how I see you every single day, no matter what has happened."
Woah....that was a huge revelation for a Girl like me. It took me a long time to let it fully soak in. Every morning I put on the robe and thought "Wow. The Lord really went to great lengths in order that I may understand this. This must be really important." And I am still learning every day just how important this truth is. Looking back it seems like every time I feel like the Lord isn't "hearing me" or taking care of me like I think He should, it always goes back to me forgetting that I have right standing with Him, and I can boldly go before the throne and ask for anything in the name of Jesus.....and it shall be done for me!
My robe got worn and old and I wanted a new one. Ulta was giving away robes as a free gift with purchase on cologne or perfume. I went there and bought Tom some cologne. As I checked out the sales girl said "I'm sorry, all we have left are white ones". "Perfect" I said. "That's exactly what I wanted". I must have said it a little too enthusiastically because she looked at me like I was kind of strange. She didn't realize I had an "inside joke" with the Lord. I didn't bother to explain.
So what does all of this have to do with the title the Lord dropped in my head on my way to church last week? What is the Beautiful Mess He was talking about? I was reading the book of Ephesians last week. It is one of my favorite books and every time I read it, I feel like I am reading it for the first time. Different things jump out at me each time. This time there were 2 scriptures that went off in my heart. They were Ephesians 1:4-5 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. That is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Even when I was still running wild, lost, and without Him, he still loved me and chose me as His own. He still saw me as the Girl He knew I would be. He still saw me as beautiful.....even though I was a mess. A Beautiful Mess is what the Lord would describe me as years ago. Perhaps the angels in heaven would say "Lord, look at her. Now what is she doing? Are you sure she is going to to make it?" "Yes" He would reply, "She is my beautiful mess".
And that is how He felt about all of us before we asked Jesus into our hearts. We have always been, and will always be beautiful to Him. The Good News is, even though our lives get messy, we are no longer a mess. We have our white robes, every single day. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, continues to clean up after us, and it pleases Him to do it. It is the reason He was given to us. With revelation like that, how could I not go about my day praising and loving Him?! The more I learn and understand what He does for me every single day, the more my heart desires to live a life worthy of what He has done. A Beautiful Mess.........it's the best compliment I could ever receive!
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