Battle of the Clothesline

 

One chilly day, Nancy Farris hurried to hang the last of the wet clothes on the clothesline. As she neared the end of her task, the line broke. Clothes plummeted to the ground.

Something within her bubbled up, flipped over, and laid back down. She started unpinning clothes, putting dirty ones into a pile, and, those which hadn't hit the ground, back into the wash basket.

Suddenly, she seemed to be watching a "before and after" skit of herself with a broken clothesline. Before she had surrendered her life to God, she would have stomped, said a few ugly words, thrown anything she could get her hands on to vent her frustration.

Then one day she saw Jesus' words in John 14:17: "for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." She became conscious of the great difference in Paul's life as described in Romans 7 and 8 and wanted Romans 8 to be reflected in her life. God spoke to her in Romans 12:1 and she responded. She gave her life into God's hand, and let Him cleanse her from within. She'd already repented and received forgiveness of her sin, but, before God's cleansing, she couldn't seem to control her awful temper.

After making Jesus Lord of her life and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, her behavior changed. When the clothesline broke, she had no tantrum. She looked at the situation and realized, "It won't help to waste energy fussing. I might as well get busy and do what I have to do."

Praise filled her. God had allowed her to see that He had changed her attitude. She wasn't happy about having to re-wash two loads of clothes, but she was filled with joy to find that God had given her victory over her temper.

Thank You, Father, for providing freedom from attitudes we cannot control ourselves.

"Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1).