How To Get Stains Out Of ANYTHING! Miracle Working Recipe included.

Usually it’s the kids.  Spilling, dripping, staining brand new clothes.  And sad to say. When this happens. I too often, just end up throwing soiled items away.

But, this day.  Kids scramble at my feet.  So being an ex-teacher, I get out the flour, salt, alum, and food dye.  Joyfully making…. Play dough.

I add the ingredients.  Bring the water to a boil.  Then begin the kneading of the kids’ choice of food coloring.

But, something happens.  As I add the last of my perfectly collected ingredients.  The dark food dye splatters from its aim, soiling my light colored shirt.

And I don’t have many favorites, when it comes to clothes.  But, this sweatshirt is comfy, warm, soft, and my favorite brand, Calvin.

And when you have something that holds great value to you.  You will do anything to repair it, fix it, clean it….just so you can us it.  Go on, keeping it, close in your presence.

I think.  Nothing will get this stain out.  It’s everywhere.  Not
just one blotch.  But splattered, like a hippy shirt….EVERYWHERE.

And it’s hard to hide the blotches of our mistakes.  Especially when they are out front, loudly shouting for all to see. 

But then, I do research.  Finding a recipe that includes only a little laundry detergent.  And white distilled vinegar.

And coincidentally, a large jar of it, sits patiently, waiting upon our shelf.

And isn’t it funny when you have something and you don’t even know why.  When you buy something and you don’t even realize….it has a purpose all it’s own.  One so much greater than what you ever could dream or know.

And that vinegar was my messiah in that moment.

I place some in the washer, and let it soak through all the workings of my own mistakes, still trying hard to laugh at me.

And to be honest, I thought that it wouldn’t work.  I thought all I would end up with is a shirt now stained AND soiled with some vinegar-stinky mess.

But, boy was I wrong.  I took out my shirt.  And to my shock, all my stains were gone!

And, I can’t help but think of God.  I can’t help but think of another soiled one.  Me.  Splattered with tainted dye of my own foolish choices.  My own mistakes.  My own mishaps of immaturity.

And yet, His recipe always leaves us clean.  Being soaked in His presence always washes us from everything we could ever do….have ever done…or will ever do…..

If we surrender it all to Him.

And to be honest, I was scared to push Mr. Klein, into the washing machine.  Even though my favorite shirt was stained, I somehow just wanted to keep it that way.  Maybe wearing it with stains, just to ensure what I treasured would be safe?

I even thought about adding more stains.  Maybe if I splat the light cloth with a different array of colors….maybe no one will notice that it has been bitten with the foolishness of my own aweful dye job.

But, many stains or not. Eventually I would know that what I had wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

And deep down.  All of us, at times, feel the weight of our own mistakes.  We know when we lay down at night.  Or when we sit, silently.  That something just isn’t right.

We might want to hide our stains, or wear boldly around, the colors of our difficulties….

But Jesus came….to wash us as white as snow.  He came to remove the soil.  He came to give us a shirt that looks like it has never been worn.

He doesn’t just clean our dirt.  He replaces what we are, with what we were.

And I thank Him, for seeing value in us all.  No shirt, his favorite.  No article, too messy where He cannot or does not want to clean it.  

And because of His great, unbiased, unconditional love….he will never throw us away. No matter what we have been through. 

He never wants us to hide, or live with stained stricken clothes from our past. He wants to clean us.  Soaking into the very mess, we created.  Taking our sins away and making us….

White as the driven snow.

Yes, truth is, there is no stain so big.  So deep.  So treacherousness.  That Jesus love, His overwhelming grace, and the sacrifice He paid for our forgiveness, cannot remove the dirt.

Yes, Jesus is so much better than vinegar.

I know.

I have.  Did.  And still do…..require much soaking.

 
Linking with Michelle