I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. (Ezek. 36:25)

I SUFFERED A STROKE Thanksgiving morning, 2014, while driving to Denver to celebrate the holiday with our children and grandchildren. I missed out on turkey and pumpkin pie, but I survived the stroke. An ambulance took me to the National Stroke Center, where I was diagnosed with a completely blocked, inoperable right vertebral artery (at the top of the spine) and a 74 percent blocked left vertebral artery. The medical staff quickly prepared me for surgery.

Before a skillful radiologist installed a stent in my left vertebral artery, the operating room staff bathed me from head to toe.

When God saves us, He washes away all our impurities and renews us by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). If we confess our sins, He “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

I emerged from surgery with a new lease on life, but when God saved and cleansed me, I emerged with a brand-new life (2 Cor. 5:17).

William Cowper described the cleansing God provides: “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”

Thank God for cleansing your heart from sin.

Jim Dyet was born in Scotland and grew up in Canada. Married fifty-six years, he and Gloria live in Colorado Springs, where Jim enjoys golf and daily walks with their dogs.

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