A few weeks ago, I was at Sam’s Club looking at new bedsheets. When I realized that all they had in the size I needed were white sheets, I turned to leave. After taking a few steps, the Holy Spirit told me, “Buy those.” I froze for a moment – half of me resisting and the other half trying to reason why it was that I hadn’t given those sheets a second thought. As I returned to the display, I was immediately reminded of a vision I had a few months ago where Jesus was changing my bedsheets. I wrote it down at a prayer meeting in January and offered it to the church knowing it wasn’t just for me.
“Jesus watches us through the night. When the morning comes and we go out into the world, He carries a heart full of clean linens into our bedrooms. I saw Him changing our sheets … tossing the old ones out the window and delicately replacing them with His peaceful rest. He removed the spirit of prostitution and the unclean memories of who we were without Him. The servanthood of our Savior bends low again to tuck the corners of His sacrifice into the place where we will find serenity in His stillness. He flaps and waves the new covering again and again until we hear the sound in our bedrooms. His breathing. His healing. His endless care. He kisses the pillows and leaves one there for Himself. He stands back to see the room, the soul, refreshed. He leans against the wall, praying, renewing this heart. The fragrance of joy sitting on the air, unmoving and never fading. His love has cleansed us and offered a sweet place of eternal rest.”
In the receiving, writing, and releasing of this softly spoken word, He healed something damaged in me. It’s been at least 7 years, though probably longer, since I’ve bought white sheets. My ex-husband insisted that all our sheets be white and because of our never-ending struggle to find true intimacy, I had silently made a vow to myself that I would never buy white sheets again. To me, they represented a lie and served as a painful reminder of a decade I was trying to forget. I know it sounds foolish, but whenever I’d look at white sheets, I would remember exactly how I felt in them years ago and that was a feeling I never wanted to experience again.
When He told me to buy those sheets, I reached out in freedom and in trust and I did. I placed them in my cart and exhaled the breath of one who has been delivered! Then, I held the hand of that fallen woman who made that vow and we broke it together. And I forgave, again, the man who didn’t know that his brokenness was such a burden for me to bear.
I believe in the God who will remind us gently that He has overcome all pain for us. I have seen the Redeemer who stood by me when I was so dirty with the sins of my flesh and my bed was left unmade for many years. I have full confidence in the Spirit who leads me now to relive unspeakable moments, so that I can rise up from the lies I’ve been living and stand firmly on the truth of His healing and enduring word. And I have faith that you will follow His lead when He asks you try something new with Him, even if it means letting go of something old.
I know He’s still changing sheets and purifying souls for His glory. With every new day, I seem to find Him going to new lengths to show me just how much He really cares about me and how much He cares about you. I pray you’ll find Him in your bedroom, refreshing the atmosphere and letting His love invade every layer of who you are. As you make your bed, do it with Jesus, and let Him show you how He has ministered to your every need, tucking Himself into every fold of your life, and making a place for you to come home to and find Him once more.
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