A Little Place Called Restoration

Do you ever have those moments when your trash can just stinks?  And I mean the kind of stink that's so bad you catch yourself gagging?

I had one of those moments this morning.  Now, I try to rely on my husband to take the trash out without my direction, but you know what?  Sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.  So this morning when I walked out to the garage, I was just hit with this wave of straight up STANK!  Truly, it was that bad.

I bundled up the trash bag and recognized the culprit...the leftover shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn from Saturday night's Low Country Boil.  The wave of regret hit me just as bad as the stAnk did.


Why didn't I just ask my husband to take the trash out that night?  Heck!  Why didn't I just take it out myself since I'm the one who threw all that mess in there in the first place?

I caught myself laughing as I walked outside to throw my stinky white Glad bag in the over-sized green bin.

The times God chooses to whisper to me just amaze me sometimes.  Today was one of those times as He whispered right when I threw the trash in and heard the lid slam shut.

Aren't you glad my love is like that?  Aren't you glad I can look at you through all the stink and the muck and still love you?  Aren't you glad that you can turn it all over to me and I can restore you with my love and close the lid on the rest of it?  


Yes, God.  I am so SO glad.


Saturday was a perfect example of that amazing love, and it was the whole reason for the stinky mess left behind in my trash bag.  Our son was baptized at our pastor's house and so was an old friend, so we chose to celebrate their brand new walks with Christ by cooking up a classic Southern Low Country Boil.  Yum!

Even though my trash was what brought back the great memories of that day, I'm thankful that it did because it gave me the chance to thank God for the amazing journey He's placed our family on during our last year or shore duty.

A little place called Restoration has been exactly what we've needed...Restoration Church, that is.  That church has been the place where I've really felt God's awesome restoring love as it shut the lid on the stinky parts of my soul and allowed me to start fresh.  It's also been the place that's redeemed a broken friendship and restored it to what it was (actually BETTER than it was).

Acts 3:19-21 says, "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may sent the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago."

Just like I have to take my trash out again and again (even if it means gagging a little bit), we must turn to God again and again and allow His awesome love to restore us.

If you don't have a church that's restoring your faith, your family, and your relationships, I pray that you'll seek one with your whole heart.  They're hard to find, but the perfect church is certainly out there somewhere for you.  If you're in the process of searching for one, keep searching.  If you're at a church where you aren't being constantly restored, I pray that you'll seek God's direction and guidance to lead you to the place you're supposed to be.

Thank you, Lord, for stAnk trash and how it reminds me of your awesome restoring and redeeming love.  Thank you for churches that help us to restore ourselves in you.

Until the next whisper,

Em