In October at training camp we went through a seminar about confessing our sins, grieving and putting our past behind us. That same night I dreamt that I had a huge gash on my shin and I was pushing pus out of it. Along with all the pus, came 3 rocks and I continued to clean out my cut until everything was gone. It was a short dream but extremely vivid and unforgettable. I figured it was about cleansing myself of my past and letting God get in and do work in my life.
The gash on my shin in my dream was in the same exact spot and on the same exact leg as the gash that I currently have from hiking. For those of you who don’t know, I was in a hiking accident at the beginning of April where a rockslide fell on my leg. This gash happened to be just as deep and just as wide as it was in my dream.
Everyday the nurse poured alcohol into my open wounds and scrubbed deep into my tissue. This is a painful process similar to the pain we endure when God is cleaning out our lives and stripping us away from our sins. When something bad is taken from our lives it can hurt and it can be hard. Especially if it is something we desire or feel like we can’t live without. If we don’t remove it-it will fester and infect our lives. As the nurse cleaned my leg, I thought about all the sins I had left in my past and how hard it was to turn away from them. I knew my life would be better without them but it was still difficult to let them go. I had to let God in EVERY part of my heart so that He could clean out my wounds. So that He could remove the infection, ultimately cleansing me of my sins.
God is reminding me that He has already made me clean. He has purified my heart and my mind. God sent his only son to die on the cross for me….for US!! That’s REAL!! We don’t clean ourselves, He does. HE blots out our inequities. HE cleanses us of our sins. We are pure right now and there is nothing that we can say or do to change that, so receive it and believe it. The truth is that the blood of Jesus Christ covers us. We are saved and we get to be walking examples of this everyday.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7
I am opening my life up to God, like a big gaping wound. Like He reconstructed and healed my leg, He is reconstructing and transforming my life. I am happy to have these scars on my leg. They will remind me what God has done for me, how He loves me, heals me, protects me, and makes me stronger. He died for me, giving me life and cleansing me from my sins. My battle wounds are an example of the many that He has bared for me on the cross.
But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed Isaiah 53:5
