Ladies!

We pray this finds you doing well!!!

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Below is Karen Pulley's March note - we pray it is a great blessing to you!

Spring Cleaning

Spring is almost here! Everything will soon be so new, fresh, and bursting with life. Yes, spring is a great time; but it’s also the time for that dreaded event: SPRING CLEANING! Not only do our homes need it but our hearts do as well! What needs to be uncluttered from your heart?

“If Jesus Came to Your Home”

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two…
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you’d do.
Oh, I know you’d give your nicest room to such an honored guest
And all the food you’d serve to Him would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you’re glad to have Him there…
But...when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to our heavn’nly visitor?
Or would you maybe change your clothes before you let Him in,
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn’t heard,
And wish you hadn’t uttered that last loud and hasty word?
Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder...If the Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?
Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace?
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the book you read?
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you’d planned to go,
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends,
Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on,
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you.
–Author Unknown

Let’s look at where spring cleaning originated:

Before Passover, the family went throughout the house with a candle and a feather searching for any crumbs or dirt. Why? Because the Law of Moses stated that they must keep the Passover feast without leaven. Leaven in the BIble always represents sin.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Start a new tradition with the family for Easter (especially for the kids) by putting bread crumbs throughout the house. Have them search for the “leaven” with a candle and then clean it up. This represents the idea that we cannot have fellowship (the Passover meal) with God while there is sin in our lives. 2 Corinthians 7:1 states, “Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

I’m convinced that the best kind of housecleaners hate dirt!! They can’t stand it. But not only that, they love a clean house and are sensitive to anything that might make it dirty again! After spending a great deal of time cleaning my floor and it finally looking great, I am so sensitive as to whose shoes walk on it and how long it will stay clean. How we need to have that same attitude regarding our hearts, Christ’s home! May we hate sin and be ever so sensitive to the sin in our own lives, all the while loving and rejoicing in the work Christ accomplished upon the cross on our behalf, which makes us clean! David’s heartfelt words found in Psalm 51 are our desires as well: “Wash me clean from my guilt... Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean, wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again...Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.”

Let God search you and take a good and honest look. He doesn’t want to condemn you; He just wants to clean you and set you free. HOW GREAT THAT FEELS! Keep yourselves in the Love of God. Like David prayed in Psalm 139, we too can make this our prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

This spring as you declutter closets, wipe away cobwebs, and freshen up your home, remember the fine details that went into the “original” spring cleaning and let it be a reminder to ask the Lord to declutter and clean our hearts, His home, as well. “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong (Ephesians 3:16-17 NLT).”

We would see Jesus,
Karen Pulley