Remember me telling you about that bleach spill

 on one of my favorite Halloween shirts?

No?

Well, maybe I was too distraught to share.

 

But honestly - it's ONLY A SHIRT - 

and while I was [truly] saddened that it was "ruined" I never thought it was the end of the world...something about COVID-19 and a background in child welfare helps temper things a bit, dontcha think?

I got this shirt a few years back from It's a Beautiful Mess - 

And it's a favorite Halloween shirt for me!

I pack it away with Halloween each year and pull it out to wear throughout October. This year it's been in the camper most of the month due to all of our traveling... and somewhere along the way a bottle of tylex fell off the bathroom shelf and right into the Halloween costume bag... only to be discovered DAYS later...

And I thought it was terminal...

[There was another casualty as well...]

So I searched and searched to find a replacement... 

But alas, IABM makes limited quantities of their goods... 

Then... sometime in the middle of the night I remembered all of those 'reverse' tie-dye shirts I've been seeing on the internets these past few months...

The basic idea is that you tie your shirt up and then spray it with a bleach formula...

[I just used the tylex so that it would hopefully look intentional - HA.]

And you know what?

It's not too bad.

Definitely changed...

And maybe showing some scars... 

But it's still good and useful for it's purpose. 

AND IT STILL GLOWS IN THE DARK.

Dare I make a spiritual comparison?

There are many times when we might think we are ruined or broken

 or scarred by our decisions... no longer useful... 

But God's love can restore us to our purpose. 

And we are changed.

Are we the same as before?

No.

But He restores the ruined, makes us beautiful in His eyes and

HE HELPS US GLOW FOR HIM - 

There's no better purpose in life - 

than being in God's plan for our lives ...

And being restored by God gives us peace that is like no other!

So - I'm not sure where that came from since this is just a silly Halloween shirt 

[and I know many don't agree in celebrating Halloween] - 

But God loves us all

-with ALL of our differences - 

and He wants to restore us - 

to love us - to give us a purpose...

Let's glow in this dark world for Him -