Removing The Mud

My hometown was recently hit by torrential rain, which caused massive flooding across the city and county.  The maintenance workers for the city did everything they could to hold back the floodwaters.  They put sand bags around buildings, closed the movable dikes and built temporary dikes to hold back the floodwaters.  Unfortunately, even with all the maintenance workers efforts, our city and county experienced flooding in many areas, damaging homes as well as crops. 

Dirt dumped along a road to make a temporary dike.

One of the places that flooded was one of the golf courses that my husband manages.  The morning the water began to rise, my husband received a phone call warning him of the impending flood.  He immediately went to the golf course and, along with some of his workers, began to move the electric golf carts to higher ground to keep them out of the floodwaters.  As the water rose, we prayed.  As we prayed, we saw God grant us mercy.  The water did not cover the cart batteries, thus they were undamaged, and the floodwaters stopped less than 6 inches from going into the clubhouse door where our merchandise was.  

Looking down the road to the entrance of the Clubhouse.

Directly behind the fence line you can see the door to the clubhouse.

As the floodwaters receded, we could see and smell that the golf course was a BIG mess.  There was mud everywhere, river mud that contained all kinds of smells and dead fish.  Not only was there mud everywhere, but the floodwaters had killed the grass on the golf course.  Everything the mud had touched was a BIG mess.

Mud covers the bushes and fence along the golf course.

Dead grass covered with mud on the golf course.

The mud needs to be removed before new grass can grow.

As my husband and I watched the floodwaters recede and the maintenance workers begin the process of cleaning up and removing the mud, I began to think about how sin in my life can be as damaging as the flood and can make me a BIG mess.  I thought that, just like the mud needs to be removed from the grass so that new grass can grow, sin needs to be cleaned up and removed from my life so that my faith and relationship with God can grow.

Our city is making a BIG effort and is bringing in

their BIG equipment to clean up the mud from the flood.

Like the maintenance workers who dumped the dirt along the river to fight the floodwaters, I can fight the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin in my life.  Or, I can be like my husband, who listened to the warning and took action.  I can listen to the Holy Spirit’s warning about sin in my life and take action to remove it.  As my city used their BIG equipment to clean up the mud, I can use the BIG equipment that God has given me to clean up sin in my life; confession of sin, acceptance of God’s forgiveness, the Bible and prayer

And, like my city who will move past the damage of this flood and be clean, I also can move past the damage that sin  brings to  my life and be clean, living a holy and righteous life, so that God can be glorified through me.

Confessing and saying no to sin,

 results in a guilt free life

that is filled with peace and joy.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and

just and will forgive us our sins and purify

us from all unrighteousness.”  I John 1:9

Encouraging You today to enjoy the guilt-free life that God has designed for you to live.