Last month my husband and I bought an older home. We knew there were lots of renovations we would have to oversee, and a significant one was replacing the kitchen flooring. It was a lovely stone floor twenty-five years ago, but so dark and discolored by years of wear that I was convinced there was no hope for it.

When Boris, the flooring guy came by to give me an estimate on a new floor, he surprised me. He said I had a quality floor and that I would be mistaken to replace it. He offered to send his cleaning crew in and said that in two days I would see how beautiful the floor really was. He promised I would be happy with the results.

I have to admit I was skeptical. How could anything that dirty be clean again? It made me think. Isn’t that what the Lord promises – to cleanse and restore us? In Isaiah 1:18 He says:

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,”

Life can be difficult, and we can become weary, but God remains a faithful presence through it all. He is the rock upon which we stand. And the times that we fall, He is there to pick us up. He is there to cleanse and restore us.

But if we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:7,9

I was amazed at how light and beautiful the floor was when the cleaners were finished. It reminded me of the song by Natalie Grant:

“I see broken but You see beautiful

You’re helping me to believe, You’re restoring me piece by piece

There’s nothing too dirty that You can’t make worthy
You wash me in mercy, I am clean

I am clean.