This week is brought to you by the letter m, and the word messy. People often ask me how things are going in our family. So… if we're not close friends yet, let me elaborate. 

The last 4 years have consisted of my husband receiving a stage-4 cancer diagnosis, my son experiencing a complicated divorce, and my 3-year-old grandson enduring leukemia and its 26-month treatment. We also moved, had a car accident, two of our dogs died, while I lived with chronic neck pain.🥴 Debbie-downer, right? 

Not so fast. 

My grandson rang his bell last week, my son got remarried, and we finally discovered I need surgery to eliminate all the cervical pain. In the ebb and flow, we've also had birthday celebrations, treatment milestones, festive dinners, and beautiful adventures. Things have been messy, but also holy. 

Holy ground has always been dirty. Imagine what God required the Israelites to actually do for the morning and evening sacrifices.

[These are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day, offer two lambs that are a year old, one in the morning and the other in the evening. These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the Lord's presence at the Tabernacle entrance; there I will meet with you and speak with you.]
Exodus 29v38-42

The daily offerings were bloody and probably chaotic. Not for the faint-of-heart. And yet God says, “There I will meet you and speak to you.”

Now consider the death of Jesus — bloody, chaotic, and messy.
And holy.

Our perception of goodness or favor tends to assume the absence of pain or problems. We like things clean and tidy. However, the Lord, throughout history, dwells in the midst of the messy. He is at home seated on a perfected throne as well as in the depths of a disheveled ditch. 

What mess are you currently walking through, sitting in, or running from? Don't let the enemy or the world convince you that Jesus is absent. Our Savior is familiar with the mire, and He can make it holy and sacred. Fix your eyes on Him as you continue to trudge and trek. He's got you!

Send this to someone in the middle of a mess. And pray for Jesus to meet them there.

grateful —