He's in the Stain Removal Business!

Don't you just love church?! I sure do! The fellowship, the singing, the preaching--I love ALL of it! Last Sunday night, our family was in church as usual. However, my at-times-rather-pukey baby, was even more pukey than usual. Uck! Right before church he chose to puke on the floor (thankfully, we don't have carpet) at the front of the auditorium and of course, down the front of my dress, too. In the process of trying to clean that off a bit, his diaper decided that it was just to full to hold another drop. Needless to say, I added another "spot" to my already hurting outfit, a nice big wet one on the side of my sweater (good thing I was wearing my black one). After changing his clothes and really wishing I had an extra outfit for myself, we went back to the auditorium, where the service had already begun. I heard on approaching that people were sharing blessings just then, and as I entered the room Pastor asked for my blessing, too. (Nothing like being put on the spot, esp. in another language, Yikes!) So, I said the first thing that came to mind, "I am glad that I am here, I am rather dirty, thanks to Ethan, but I am here at church!" Everyone got a good chuckle out of that! Next, Baby-Man decided that he was not quite finished with his "job" yet, and puked a bit more on the floor, my sleeve, and his clean-til-then sleeve, too. Talk about feeling super gross and disgusting, much as I wanted to be at church, at that moment, my desire to go home and take a nice, hot shower was definitely greater! I felt so icky, ucky, yucky, covered in nastiness! So, what did I do? I handed off my baby, making sure a burp rag was in the very near vicinity, and went up front to sing in the choir. All I could think was, "Unbelieveable! This always has to happen to me, especially when I am in public and have to get up in front of people. How embarrassing!" Not exactly the best attitude to have while getting up to glorify the Lord in song. In fact, it was a rather awful attitude! Not a lot of praising the Lord happening with that going on in my heart. BUT, the Lord's still working on me, and as we began to sing, he used the words of an old, familiar hymn to break my ♥.

You see, we were singing the song "At the Cross". The words in Spanish are a bit different, but equally amazing. The chorus says something like this (rough translation from the Spanish version to English):

At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,

and the stains of my soul were washed away,

It was there by faith, Jesus gave me sight,

and with Him, I will be forever happy.

(It's much prettier in Spanish as it rhymes :) ) 

What I want you to notice, is that second line as it jumped out at me on Sunday night. "The stains of my soul were washed away" I said, "THE STAINS OF MY SOUL WERE WASHED AWAY!!!!!" I think I might have to run a few laps around my house right now, shouting, "Glory! Hallelujah!" Let me tell you, that line hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so busy thinking of how dirty and stained I was on the outside, and the Lord so sweetly, so convictingly reminded me of what is really important. He seemed to bend down and quietly say into my ear:

"Remember those stains of sin that covered your heart, I washed them all away for you. Every single one! They will never come back. They are all gone! Isn't that a much better thought than worrying about these little spots on your clothes that will come right out in the wash?! Though they might return, your sin stains won't. I don't remember your sins anymore, they have been washed by the blood of my precious Son."

 WOW!!! I just about lost it right then and there. To think that God did all of that for ME! Somehow, I managed to keep it together for the rest of the song and took a moment or two in the bathroom afterward to let the tears of thankfulness come. As always, God gave me just what I needed when I needed it. He did a work in my heart and gave me an attitude change. He got my eyes off of myself and my petty problems and onto His Son and what He did for me on Calvary (which is what I should have been focusing on the whole time!). Who needed a sermon after that?! Just give me an old-fashioned altar, so I can do business with my Lord.