Is God in the Laundry Room?

It was an ordinary night in the Grote household. My husband and kids were in bed resting. And as usual the consignment sale is tomorrow, so I am still running around putting the tags in place.  So I was in my basement laundry room doing that and folding laundry.  Those of you who know the blessing of this home know that the laundry room is big enough to be a kitchen, but it is still the most unlikely place for God to show up - IMHO.

Anyway, I was thinking about the day and the week, the sordid details of which I will simply dismiss, but suffice it to say, it has been a long hard week and it is only Monday.

I am playing music on my iPod on my phone and one of my favorite artists comes on...and a song that speaks directly to me reaches my ears, enters my soul, and invades my spirit and mind.  I just finished working a weekend retreat where the theme was to come and rest in Him.  The song plays and fills my cluttered laundry room with the sweet sound of resting and finding peace..."I will rest in you, I will rest in you, I will rest in you, I will rest in you.  Breathe in, Breathe out. You will you will find Him here."  I gratefully sing along. 

The song ends and I move on to finishing the laundry feeling somewhat refreshed, when my iPod begins to blare out the song again.  Now mind you, it is on shuffle.  It should not be playing the same song a second time.  So this time, I stop what I am doing.  I assume that God must be trying to get my attention...I am a little dense sometimes.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath and I sing, my whole self surrendered to the moment and fully willing to lay my burdens down.  I do as the song says and breathe in and breathe out.  I pushed pause on my life.  The crazy messed up week and all the chaos of the changes that are coming and those that need to come.  I simply surrender to the moment frozen in time where my Abba Daddy called to me to come and rest.  He met me right in the middle of my chaos.  He held me.  He told me life is hard, but He is good.

The next song that came on:
"But Love is the promise that whatever it holds I will hold you, I will hold you up
I will hold you, I will hold you up.
So give me your bad day, Give me your fear Bring all your burdens, just lay them down here
Cause I'm not gonna leave you, when your world becomes a war
I'm staying in the trenches, cause you're worth fighting for
Cause I will hold you, I will hold you up And I will hold you, I will hold you up"

I just wept.  I mean really?  Could my iPod really deliver the sermon I needed today?  Does God care that much?  I mean seriously????

He must, because there I sat on the floor of my laundry room thankful for a God who loves me enough to enter my messy world, hold me, remind me to breathe and tell me He will fight the fight with me because I am not alone.  

Once I finished my sweet moment with the creator of the universe who entered my laundry room, I began to wonder if my children on the third floor or my husband had come running to see what the new cat or the dog dragged in as I sang/warbled and wept through those three very precious songs.

But I was alone.  Snotted up, but feeling better than I had in several days.  It was a precious reminder that our God is not impersonal.  He is intimately aware of our circumstances and He meets us right where we are - even in the laundry room.  Just think what he can do at the dinner table if we prepared a place for Him!!!!