{"id":987,"date":"2017-05-01T13:49:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T13:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=987"},"modified":"2017-05-01T13:49:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T13:49:32","slug":"spring-cleaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/05\/spring-cleaning.html","title":{"rendered":"Spring Cleaning!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After days of heavy rain the sunshine has arrived! I feel like \u00a0a mole coming out form its hole and blinking at the brightness he finds above ground. (But I think moles are blind&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p>But I am not blind and what I was living with so blithely in the dark, gray, rain and fog I now see so plainly in the sunlight. Yikes! My dust bunnies had babies! My dust is casting shadows in the sun. I had no idea I was tolerating so much dirt! And dust bunnies collect stuff like hair &#8211; my gray curly hair, my cat&#8217;s ever-shedding fur and no telling how many dead skin cells not to mention the grass clippings. Yuck.<\/p>\n<p>How much my life is like that. I let stuff grow in the dark of neglect, self, worry, fear &#8211; stuff that isn&#8217;t pretty. Downright disgusting. I gathers like those dust bunnies on my floor. And ugly stuff attaches to it &#8211; pretty soon it is not only visible to me but to others.<\/p>\n<p>Last week I had the exterminator came &#8211; I was invaded by little, as in tiny, black ants. Usually they show up in Spring and I spray for them but someone told me they could cause wood damage. That was news to me so to be doubly sure I had my exterminator come out. He came promptly and began to examine around the edges of my floors, counters and behind the curtains&#8230;with a big, bright spotlight! Oh my! That was an eye-opener! It was all exposed. Unpleasant.<\/p>\n<p>Remember when I told you what I thought God looked like &#8211; a brilliant, dazzling light? Well, just imagine His light shinning into all the dark, hidden places of your life and mine. It won&#8217;t be pretty. We many try to hide but it won&#8217;t work. And there is no amount of spring cleaning I can do to get myself clean enough to stand in God&#8217;s light. Nothing. I am doomed. We all are.<\/p>\n<p>But hold on! We just celebrated Good Friday and Easter. God has provided the perfect cleaning agent. The blood of Jesus. And then He has \u00a0provided a perfect robe of righteousness \u00a0&#8211; His righteousness &#8211; for us to wear.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not up to us. What a great God and Savior we have!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After days of heavy rain the sunshine has arrived! I feel like \u00a0a mole coming out form its hole and blinking at the brightness he finds above ground. (But I think moles are blind&#8230;) But I am not blind and what I was living with so blithely in the dark, gray, rain and fog I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Spring Cleaning! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/05\/spring-cleaning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spring Cleaning! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After days of heavy rain the sunshine has arrived! I feel like \u00a0a mole coming out form its hole and blinking at the brightness he finds above ground. (But I think moles are blind&#8230;) But I am not blind and what I was living with so blithely in the dark, gray, rain and fog I&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/05\/spring-cleaning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-01T13:49:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spring Cleaning! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2017\/05\/spring-cleaning.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spring Cleaning! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"After days of heavy rain the sunshine has arrived! 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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