A Deep Cleaning

Sometimes I feel like I keep my life like I keep my house. Anyone know what I mean? My house, for the most part, 
always looks ‘presentable’ and I strive to keep it that way…(well, maybe ‘strive’ is not an accurate verb…: )),
but the real dirt lies beneath, where the occasional visitor can’t really spot it without really digging a
little. And, heaven forbid, someone should open a closet, look under a bed, in a cupboard or…..drum roll please….see my
garage! Yikes! 

The real dirt

 I always find it interesting that I’m so concerned with this? There’s that old adage,

“I am coming to see you – not your house”

which offers some reassurance and relief, but I still can’t quite bring myself to shake my need to mask what’s really hiding beneath the surface and present a pretty little picture for everyone of my house and my life.





Is someone really not going to like me or ‘approve’ of me if they see a clump of dog hair on my floor….or if a glimpse of my sinful past - or present – is revealed?

~ "Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you have decided to look beyond the imperfections"~ unknown

I’m in no way advocating that we should stop keeping our houses clean…nice thought though! But there are those things we hang onto that we don’t use or need or really even want anymore, but we just can’t seem to part with them. In the house…clothes that we’ll most likely never fit into again, an excessive amount of mementos, old projects we many never return to, and many other things we keep a grip on JUST IN CASE we need them to fall back on someday.


In our lives….fear, anxiety, regret, shame, insecurity – if I give these things up, as much as they weigh me down, I’m not sure who I will be anymore without them…in a way, I’ve let them define me…

"Hi, I’m Laurie and I’m fearful…"



Our Savior died and rose again so we could bury these things once and for all – not a masterful ‘cover up’, but a dead-and-gone burial…He died to free us from the chains the devil tries so cleverly to bind us with. Oh how I want to stop letting my ‘stuff’ define me and let Jesus define me instead! How I long to change my introduction…

"Hi, I’m Laurie…I’m free… I am a child of the King…every part of me

 is defined by Him and I’m so very glad to meet you…come on in!!!”

I heard a sobering quote the other day by Brennan Manning that really challenges me on so many levels.
He said,




"The God of so many Christians I meet is a God who is too small for

me because He is not the God of the Word, He is not the God

revealed by and in Jesus Christ…who says to you, ‘I know your

whole life story, I know every skeleton in your closet, I know every

moment of sin, shame, dishonesty and degraded love that has

darkened your past; right now I know your shallow faith, your feeble 

prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship, and My word to you is this,

I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you

should be’…"

Lord Jesus, please help me to take this dare and let you love me for who I am. I know I can hide from the world, but I can’t and do not want to hide from you.

I surrender all my ‘junk’ to you.

Please teach me to love myself and find my worth and value in You! Thank you for the cross; thank you for Your faithfulness; thank you for Your endless grace and love. Amen.

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Just to take Him at His word

Just to rest upon His promise

Just to know “Thus saith the Lord”

Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus

Oh for grace to trust Him more

LAURIE D