Prudence dictated that we seek help when it came time to clean our house prior to moving to Susanville, CA. It was late April of 1999, and the Lord was urging us to move west.
From prior experience, I realized that I could not load the trailer with our household furnishings and clean the house at the same time. My physical resources simply weren't up to the task and because of Sevilla's physical disabilities, she could not help either, which caused her no small amount of disquiet as she felt it was her duty to clean the house.
Contacting our minister who had been so helpful to us in the past, we explained our dilemma and he agreed to ask several of the ladies of the church to donate their time and effort. On the day before we moved, while I loaded the trailer, three women came over and spent two hours cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms. (The kitchen really was dirty.)
Their gracious offer of help was deeply appreciated by Sevilla and me and is recorded in the books of heaven for the Lord regards a kindness shown to any of His children as a kindness done to him.
Shirly Holbrook also brought over a vegetarian lunch Sunday afternoon before the other ladies arrived. She is a wonderful cook and I wish we could have hired her to cook for us. (I'm a lousy cook and housekeeper.)
While it is doubtful that our Land lady appreciated our efforts we did not clean the house so much for her as for the Lord and our own satisfaction. God is a God of order and cleanliness. He desires our homes and persons to be kept scrupulously clean. While I failed to keep our home in a satisfactory condition, at least we left it clean for the next resident.