The oil stain

The oil stain

Many years ago, on a Saturday afternoon, I was changing the oil in my car in the car park of the apartment block we lived in. I’m generally quite capable of this without spilling oil and making a mess, but this time, something fell and splashed oil everywhere. I cleaned up all I could, but I was worried about a stain on the concrete—something that would attract an angry letter from the apartment block manager.

I had no time to attend to it any further, I locked my car and rushed in for dinner. The next day it still weighed heavily on my mind while I drove to church. Suddenly, a rush of peace came upon me. I heard God say – “I’ve got this, and I’m going to show you what my forgiveness looks like”.

Driving home from the service, the skies opened up and our car was hit with a downpour of rain. There were no weather predictions for it – it just came out of nowhere. Even though the driveway was sloped, water was going down the concrete car park in torrents when we arrived home.

When the rain stopped, and the concrete had dried I looked to see what mess remained from the oil – and there was nothing. Old black engine oil had been sitting on this concrete for almost a day, and the rain had completely overwhelmed it.

Instantly, I heard the Lord speak. “This is a picture of my love for you. There is no mess that you could make of your life that I could not overwhelm and make right”.

This happened over fifteen years ago, but I’ve certainly seen this to be true over and over. God’s faithfulness is impossible to fathom. This is not just my story, from Jonah running from his calling to Peter who allowed fear to lead him into publicly rejecting Jesus God has been showing His love and faithfulness. The same Love he has for you as His redeemed child. 

I want to encourage you to never lose hope. Some messes take longer to heal than others, but He has a plan for you. It may be a twenty-year plan, but you will see His love manifest – if we can hold onto Him and don’t give up.

If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself.

2 Timothy 2:13