Filth

Garth and Emma are back from their weekend at a District Youth conference in Green Bay where there were over 3,600 kids from all over Wisconsin coming together to praise and worship the God they love.  It was an amazing time for Emma as a first time student and for Garth as his eleventh time as a leader.  God showed up in many ways and really spoke to Emma.  She wants to appreciate more the things that she just takes for granted.  And she has been spending time thinking about questions, like:  What is it that God might want me to start?  Stop?  How much of my free time am I giving to God?  How obedient am I being to Him?  There were 25 that went from our church and I know that they came back changed.  Thanks for all the prayers for their safety and willingness to let God move.

I always think of strange illustrations that help me understand God's truths, yet I never know if you read these while you are eating breakfast or not.  That thought makes me a little hesitant to share what came into my head this morning, but I ran it by the kids and they seemed to think it would be ok.  The other day when I had finished picking up dog poop in our yard, I imagined if some random person came over and looked it would appear that the yard was clean.  On the surface, all "items" had been removed and all that was visible was the white snow.  Yet, I knew that there was much more under the snow that could not be seen at the moment.  I knew the "dirt and filth" that was hidden.  We are the same way.  It is easy to look good on the outside, to look "clean" and sound "clean",  and yet we know that there is dirt underneath.  We know the secret things that we keep hidden from others.  If the snow melted and you walked through my yard, I would be embarrassed.  In the same way, if my inner thoughts and motives were laid out for you to see, it would be even more embarrassing.  Do you know what the beautiful thing about all of this is?  It is beautiful that God sees that filth, He knows it is there, and He still loves me.  He completely loves me-dirt and all.  That is a reason to smile.

Love you

Rachel