WASHING OVER ME

Ghost – (Ella Henderson)

THE STORY:

I remember working my bartending shift and reaching for my pockets trying to grab any pen I could…and they never worked on the first try but I didn’t want to forget what he had just told me, so I pressed down harder with the pen. I quickly drew two large circles and the ink started flowing again…and I wrote down his exact words. But I always wrote down everything he told me…it was like a medicine to me at the time, it was a healing moment that I needed and wanted…He was guiding me with his little words of wisdom and encouragement. It may sound strange to you but I desperately clinged to every word this man told me during those years that I needed help. He is one the top mentors in my life…no doubt about it. Do you have someone in your life like that? I never knew when he was going to tell me something that he really wanted me to know…and usually it was always what I needed at just the right time in my life. I would write his words down frantically on the bar/cocktail napkins that lined the bar that I was working behind, then I would always quickly shove them in my pocket to go home and read later that night when I got home…I still have his messages saved at my house from six years ago…

The man I am talking about is the dishwasher in the restaurant I worked in every day for 6 and a half years. He actually still works there today and a couple other restaurants around town. He is planning to retire soon and I believe it is beyond well deserved. He is probably one of the most loved local in Oxford, MS, and you want to know why? It’s because how much he genuinely loves other people and always puts other people before himself…it’s amazing. Imagine if we could all try to be like that…He’s the kind of person you just always see with a smile on their face no matter what…Over all the years we worked together, he knew exactly what I was getting caught up in…he knew the people I became involved with…and he saw me at my lowest points in life…but this man showed me kindness when most people would not and he was always there to encourage me…and he never stopped. He still encourages me…

About a week ago I was looking through some of the messages I had written down from him, from so long ago… I found this one from October of 2011, a time when I can truthfully tell you I was close to hitting bottom…

October 11, 2011

“Don’t you ever let anything get you down, you keep your head up Adrian, but keep God first! You be thankful for the day you just had and tomorrow will be another new day.”

THE QUESTION:

What is keeping you down? What’s keeping the dirt in your life? What’s haunting you? Do you have ghosts in your life that you feel like you keep chasing but it always just ends up being a temporary satisfaction? Do you have someone in your life that can help guide you on the right path? How can we learn to really listen for the right help?

THE ANSWER:

“I keep going to the river to pray, ’cause I need something that can wash out the pain. And at most
I’m sleeping all these demons away, but your ghost, the ghost of you, it keeps me awake…”

Gabriella Michelle “Ella” Henderson is a British singer-songwriter born and raised in Tetney, Lincolnshire. She began singing at just the age of three and taught herself how to play the piano just a few years later. Henderson was a finalist in the 2012 series of The X Factor, and shortly after that she co-wrote her 2014 single Ghost with One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder. The single was her first number one song on the UK Singles Chart. When asked about her spirituality and the meaning behind Ghost, Henderson said, “I do have a sense of spirituality and I do believe that there’s something has to be there…Ghost is metaphor for something thats got a hold of you, you can’t eat you can’t sleep..trying to overcome something…people thought I went through a bad heartbreaker relationship but no not at all…it’s about the obstacles that haunt you..”

Psalm 51:10 | Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

I have learned to listen more and talk less in my life…I have learned a lot about faith and trust. I believe and trust that God put this mentor in my life, he placed him in my path to help carry me through His plan for my life. His job everyday is to wash dishes…he takes something dirty and makes it clean…almost the same way God worked in my life to remove all the dirt and wash me clean. I think that’s where I got the title for this post because God was always watching over me by placing him in my life at the right time and by doing that, over time He was washing over me.

I actually met up with my mentor last week at the restaurant and had a great time catching up with him. We sat at the corner of the bar where I used to work behind and I was looking at him and I said, “Did you ever really think I would actually get better? Through everything I did wrong in this town, did you think I would start living right?” And he just smiled like he always does, was quiet for a minute…and then he looked at me and replied, “Adrian, you’re on that right path.. You on it now… Sometimes it just takes us all a lil while to get on it.” And he was right…very similar to Ella Henderson’s lyrics…I really had to go through hell…but I kept going to that river to pray. I had this ghost of a good spirit in me…but I had to give it up. In a way my life was like a dish being washed, but mine would still have dirt on it every time it got washed, and it was because I kept trying to fix and clean it on my own… I wanted a clean heart, a right spirit, and I wanted it to be real…not a ghost. Think about what you want for your life. Think about the obstacles that are keeping you from that…what are you going to do?? Ask God to help you give up your ghost.. Just ask Him. We can pray and ask Him to give us help, ask Him to show us the right way to walk. That’s the best way to learn to listen for the right help. And whether we turn right or left…I pray we always turn to = LOVE. Nothing is impossible…

Isaiah 30:21

21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

(Listen below to Ghost by Ella Henderson)